EAST ASIA REGIONALISM AFTER THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

Abstract

Competing analyses has debated the prospect of East Asia regionalism in the post-
Global Financial Crisis. After a decade of dynamic regionalism and community-building
ambition, Asia economy seems to have decoupled from the global economy and formed
an autonomous economic zone. It is at least indicated by the rise of intra-trade intensity
in East Asia. Exploring the impact of the global financial crisis to the effort of establishing
East Asia regionalism, this paper argues that although the global financial crisis presents
a new opportunity for deepening the cooperation, the East Asia regionalism only achieves
a slight progress. Rather than economic reasons, the origin and development of East
Asia regionalism has been mostly driven by political motivation in order to balance the
influence among the big powers. As the result, this regionalism has been trapped into
political dilemma. Therefore, the regional policy responses to address the global financial
crisis indicate the progress of East Asia regionalism has been meager.