Economic regionalization and Pacific Asia

The expansion of the European Union and the adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement have prompted growing speculation about the prospects of close economic and political cooperation in Pacific Asia. An examination of historical, cultural, demographic, political, and economic factors in the region shows great obstacles to the establishment of a European-style economic bloc. Instead, economic and cultural ties have emerged that presage a different type of regionalism in Pacific Asia. Recognition of the interconnections and the discontinuities is important to understand the economic and political dynamics of a region that will play a prominent role in the global order of the twenty-first century.