JAPAN’S APPROACH TO ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Since emerging as a leading industrial economy, Japan has played an important role in promoting Asia Pacific economic cooperation. Japan has been instrumental in every major initiative in economic cooperation in the region over the past three decades, including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum launched in 1989. Japans commitment to free trade, reinforced by its own experience of discriminatory trade policies in the immediate postwar period, has made it a strong advocate of the principle of open regionalism on which APEC is founded. Commitment to this principle has provided the basis for a process of unilateral liberalisation of trade, including agreed time frames, which allows the developing economies of the Asia Pacific region to progress towards free trade in a flexible manner and provides some protection against free riders. The strength of this commitment will assist member economies to counter pressure for preferential trading arrangements and facilitate the extension of free trade to sectors which involve cooperation with economies outside the Asia Pacific region.Japan, APEC, Asia Pacific

East Asian Steel Projections for the 1990s Revisited

In 1989 a research team from the AustraliaJapan Research Centre (AJRC) undertook a study of the prospects for the East Asian steel industry for the 1990s. The aim was to assess the impact of developments in the region on industry strategies in Australia. This paper reviews those projections to see whether they were right or wrong. It also examines the growth of the East Asian industry over the last decade in the context of developments in the industry worldwide and reviews Australias position in regional iron ore and coal markets during the 1990s. The central focus of the AJRC study was on what opportunities might emerge in Australia for the supply of processed steel product to the East Asian region in the 1990s. The main conclusion was that East Asia would shift from being a long-time and significant net exporter of steel product to the rest of the world to being a significant net importer of steel product, given then established trends in production, consumption and trade. At the time, this was a radical conclusion. It had an important impact on thinking about trends in the regional steel market in Australia, in Japan and elsewhere in East Asia. The main conclusions of the AJRC study turned out to be correct. The industry did not adjust to the pressures in the market exactly as predicted, partly because of the financial crisis in East Asia and Japans domestic stagnation. However, the conclusions about the growth of China and its impact on regional steel trade were particularly prescient. In the last decade, China has become the worlds largest producer and consumer of steel while Japanese consumption and production have contracted. Both South Korea and Taiwan have increased their shares of production and consumption of steel. Australia has entrenched its position as the dominant supplier of iron ore and coking products to East Asia.steel, Projections, East Asia, Japan, Australia, iron ore, regional steel market

US AND EU TRADE POLICIES AND EAST ASIA

This article identifies a number of examples of apparent lack of coherence in United States and European Union trade policies. They include the effect of preferential policies that lock in trade shares and inhibit growth promoting structural adjustment, biases in tariff structures, policies that affect incentives of developing countries to make commitments in the World Trade Organisation, the use of anti-dumping actions and the nature of tariff peaks and escalation. The origins of the lack of policy coherence lie within the domestic policy-making processes of the developed economies. An important question, then, is whether opportunity exists for East Asian economies to mobilise to induce an external shock sufficient to shift policy consensus in the United States and the European Union The key elements of such a grand bargain on trade in manufactured goods would include an explicit East Asian commitment to bind more tariff lines, initiatives to resolve the problem of accelerating anti-dumping actions and a replacement for the program of tariff preferences. A package of trade policy reforms of this type in East Asia would constitute a substantial offer and benefit to the United States and the European Union. It has the potential to trigger a response of equal benefit to East Asian economies.US, EU, trade policy, East Asia

Japan's approach to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

Since emerging as a leading industrial economy, Japan has played an important role in promoting Asia Pacific economic cooperation. Japan has been instrumental in every major initiative in economic cooperation in the region over the past three decades, including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum launched in 1989. Japan’s commitment to free trade, reinforced by its own experience of discriminatory trade policies in the immediate postwar period, has made it a strong advocate of the principle of ‘open regionalism’ on which APEC is founded. Commitment to this principle has provided the basis for a process of unilateral liberalisation of trade, including agreed time frames, which allows the developing economies of the Asia Pacific region to progress towards free trade in a flexible manner and provides some protection against ‘free riders’. The strength of this commitment will assist member economies to counter pressure for preferential trading arrangements and facilitate the extension of free trade to sectors which involve cooperation with economies outside the Asia Pacific region

Asian Trade Structures and Trade Potential : An Initial Analysis of South and East Asian Trade

A frontier of potential trade is constructed for trade flows from a world trade matrix of trade determinants to compare East Asian trade performance with that of South Asia. The results suggest that East Asian trade, led by ASEAN, is outperforming the world while South Asia lags behind significantly. Within East Asia, the transformation of Chianis trade performance is remarkable with its accession to the WTO. Australia is efficiently integrated with East Asia and performing close to its trade frontier. There is scope to lift intraregional trade among the East Asian economies but South Asia has even more unrealised potential, including within its own region.trade, East Asia, Trade Structures

China and East Asian Energy - Prospects and Issues Volume II Part I

This collection of papers in two volumes is the second in a series on China and East Asian Energy, a major project which is an initiative of the East Asia Forum in conjunction with the China Economy and Business Program in the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University (ANU). The first volume was published in April 2007. The research program is directed at understanding the factors influencing Chinas energy markets. It also involves high-level training and capacity building to foster long-term links between policy thinkers in China and Australia. It provides for regular dialogue with participants from the energy and policy sectors in the major markets in East Asia and Australia. The backbone of the dialogue is an annual conference, the location of which has thus far alternated between Beijing and Canberra. The objective is to advance a research agenda that informs and influences the energy policy discussion in China, Australia and the region. This special edition of the Asia Pacific Economic Papers brings together papers presented at the second conference in the series. Due to their number and length, papers from that second conference are published across two volumes of the Asia Pacific Economic Papers. This volume includes the first half of the papers, while the next volume includes the second half. The third conference in the project is scheduled for July 2008.China, Energy, East Asia

China and East Asian Energy : Prospects and Issues

In October 2005, the Crawford School (then the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government) within the Australian National University (ANU) initiated a major research project on China and East Asian Energy. The project is being undertaken under the schools East Asia Forum in conjunction with the China Economy and Business Program. The first conference in the series being organised under the auspices of the China and East Asian Energy Strategies Research Program was hosted in Beijing by the Energy Research Institute and the ANU on 1011 October 2005. It was the first of five annual conferences in the program. This book brings together the key papers presented at that conference.

THE CHANGING CLIMATE FOR FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT INTO JAPAN

Japans prolonged recession over the last five years has provided the impetus for regulatory reform and industry restructuring. Historically, the flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Japan has been small for an economy of its size. The high degree of vertical integration and relatively closed business networks that characterised the corporate system made it hard for newcomers to gain access, while the tradition of lifetime employment limited the ability of foreign firms to recruit quality staff. Dramatic declines in the price of Japanese equities and land since the collapse of the bubble economy of the early nineties has been accompanied by a sharp increase in foreign participation in the Japanese economy. Traditional business relationships are opening up, regulations are being dismantled or revised and increased foreign involvement is now accepted as inevitable, even through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Potentially profitable openings created by restructuring and reform is likely to see the trend towards greater foreign investment in Japan maintained over the next decade, especially in non-manufacturing.FDI, Japan, Vertical Integration