This book provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) organisation and examines the challenges APEC now faces in the new century. Subjects covered include: * the history of APEC * APEC and the latest WTO round * case-studies of countries in the region including China, Japan, Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan * APECs approach to competition and deregulation policy * assessment of APECs standing as an international institution Featuring contributions from distinguished groups of international academic experts, this book is essential reading for all those interested in political and economic developments in the Asia-Pacific.
In 1989, President George Bush was President of the United States the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum was established to promote economic integration around the Pacific Rim and to sustain economic growth. APEC currently has 21 members: Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Republic of the Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; USA; Vietnam. The United States, recognising the value of top-level meetings to advance the work of creating a Pacific community, invited member economies' leaders to Blake Island, Washington, to meet informally to discuss major issues in the APEC region. This gathering of economic leaders has become the single most important institution in the Asia Pacific region. It brings top level attention to APEC's vision of free trade and investment as well as providing a forum for leaders to meet on a regular basis both as a group and bilaterally to discuss current issues and resolve disputes. The economic health of the APEC region is vitally important to America's continued prosperity. Economic growth across the APEC region waned this year, largely in response to the slowing US economy and the weakening global demand for many of the Asian members' exports (particularly electronics). Many members have lowered their 2001 growth projections in light of poor performance during the first half of the year, although most will still post positive results. This compelling book about APEC and its background, goals and problems, provides the reader with the necessary information on the crucial role that it plays. A revived Asia-Pacific region means more exports from and investments by U.S. companies, more jobs for Americans and more U.S. economic growth.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was founded in 1989. Since then the forum has developed into a major player in tri-partite relations between North America, East Asia and Europe. The Seattle and Bogor Summits were landmark events suggesting to many observers a gravitational shift in the world economy and world politics. Yet the Asian financial crisis had a sobering effect on high-flying expectations as APEC contributed little to crisis management. In the light of such contradictory performance, distinguished scholars here examine APEC's achievements and failures, its role and functions in international relations, its linkages with regional organisations and the interplay between the forum and national interests of major factors in the region.
This book provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) organisation and examines the challenges APEC now faces in the new century. Subjects covered include: * the history of APEC * APEC and the latest WTO round * case-studies of countries in the region including China, Japan, Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan * APECs approach to competition and deregulation policy * assessment of APECs standing as an international institution Featuring contributions from distinguished groups of international academic experts, this book is essential reading for all those interested in political and economic developments in the Asia-Pacific.
In its first ten years, what has the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) accomplished? Has the 21-member forum - including the United States, Japan, China, Mexico, and most of Southeast Asia -- fulfilled its promise? To answer these vital questions, leading scholars at APEC Study Centres from thirteen APEC member economies undertook detailed studies of such central issues as trade in services, investment policy, human resource development, food and agriculture, energy, and financial stability.The findings are summarized in a policy report, "Learning From Experience", that has received wide praise and close scrutiny from senior government officials. The report concludes that APEC has successfully established itself as a world-class forum that has contributed to the affirmation of a coherent set of positive ideas. However, the report notes shortcomings in each of the critical areas of trade and investment liberalization, economic and technical cooperation, and institutional structure, and offers remedial policy recommendations to improve APECs future performance. This volume contains both the policy report and the issue studies. It is the product of the APEC International Assessment Network (APIAN), a collaborative, independent project among participating APEC Study Centres to track and assess the design and execution of key APEC initiatives.
"This book assembles papers that were produced under a three year collaborative research program on 'China and APEC' undertaken by the AustraliaJapan Research Centre, in the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management at The Australian National University and the APEC Policy Research Center, in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. ... The work on this project and the papers in the volume provide a base for developing ideas that could be helpful to the policy agenda for APEC 2001."--Preface.
!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN" meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" In November 1997, the world media converged on Vancouver to cover the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The major news story that emerged, however, had little to do with the crisis unfolding in the Asian economies. At the UBC campus, where the APEC leaders' meeting was held, a predictable student protest met with an unusually strong police response. A crowd of students was pepper-sprayed, along with a CBC cameraman. The dramatic video footage of the incident that appeared on the evening news shocked Canadians. The use of noxious chemicals to attack non-violent protesters somehow seemed un-Canadian. It looked more like something that police and soldiers in less democratic countries would do. Other news stories developed. Two dozen law professors wrote to Prime Minister Chrétien to report that a number of serious constitutional violations that had taken place on campus. One protester, held for fourteen hours for displaying a sign saying "Free Speech," initiated legal proceedings. Other lawsuits followed. The RCMP and the government of Canada were named as defendants, and a public inquiry was launched. A central issue was whether the Prime Minister's officials gave orders of a political nature to the police that resulted in law-abiding citizens being assaulted and arrested. But why all the fuss? So what if the Prime Minister gave orders to the police? The contributors to Pepper in Our Eyes maintain that the "so what" question is of vital importance. The events at APEC raised serious questions about constitutional principle, the role of police in a democratic society, public accountability, and the effects of globalization on rights and politics. The contributors, experts in a variety of fields, draw upon their knowledge to explain -- in plain English -- the background issues and the values at stake. Some of the authors, such as Gerald Morin, chair of the first RCMP Public Complaints Commission, and CBC journalist Terry Milewski, had a direct connection with the APEC affair. By getting at the fundamental issues behind the APEC affair, Pepper in Our Eyes seeks to raise our civic consciousness. It shows that there was much more at stake that day than the questionable use of pepper spray. The Hughes Report Special Feature Selected as a BC Book for Everybody
East Asian countries are now pursuing greater formal economic institutionalization, weaving a web of bilateral and minilateral preferential trade agreements. Scholarly analysis of “formal” East Asian regionalism focuses on international political and economic factors such as the end of the Cold War, the Asian financial crisis, or the rising Sino-Japanese rivalry. Yet this work pays inadequate attention to the strategies of individual government agencies, business groups, labor unions, and NGOs across the region. Moreover, most studies also fail to adequately characterize different types of trade arrangements, often lumping together bilateral accords with minilateral ones, and transregional agreements with those within the region. To fully understand this cross-national variance, this book argues that researchers must give greater attention to the domestic politics within East Asian countries and the U.S., involving the interplay of these subnational players. With contributions from leading country and regional trade specialists, this book examines East Asian and American trade strategies through the lens of a domestic bargaining game approach with a focus on the interplay of interests, ideas, and domestic institutions within the context of broader international shifts. With respect to domestic politics, the chapters show how subnational actors engage in lobbying, both of their own governments and through their links to others in the region. They also trace the evolution of interests and ideas over time, helping us to generate a better understanding of historical trends in the region. In addition to scholars of East Asian and comparative regionalism, this book will be of interest to policy-makers concerned with international trade and U.S.-Asia relations, and those interested in understanding the rich trade institutional landscape that we see emerging in the Asia-Pacific.
Spanning 20 years of history, the achievements of APEC may seem uneventful in the eyes of some observers. Yet careful deliberation will point to APEC's many remarkable high points as well as some of the challenges. The foundations of APEC were set in place about 40 years ago based on the achievements of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC). One of the cornerstones of APEC's vision is to achieve a free and open trade area among its member economies. This vision is anchored in the Bogor Goals that remain the centrepiece of the APEC process. The Bogor Goals represent a cause for celebration as well as angst. Celebration because the region has moved towards achieving a much more liberalized environment of trading and investment since 1989, angst because the deadlines for achieving the goals have not yet been fully realized. Today, APEC embraces many of the world's dynamic developed and developing economies that are better poised to meet the new challenges of this century. For those seeking to get a quick sweep of APEC, this book recalls, reflects and provides enough food for thought on the possible remake of APEC. The chapters are carefully written by experts who have been directly involved in the APEC process one way or another. The invaluable insights serve to place the whole APEC process in a balanced perspective, yet with candid deliberations.
