Managing the Noodle Bowl: The Fragility of East Asian Regionalism
The Singapore Economic Review, Vol. 53, Issue 3, pp. 449-478, 2008
Posted: 11 Nov 2009
There are 2 versions of this paper
Managing the Noodle Bowl: The Fragility of East Asian Regionalism
Date Written: December 2008
Abstract
The paper argues that East Asian regionalism is fragile, since (i) each nation's industrial competitiveness depends on the smooth functioning of "Factory Asia" - in particular, on intra-regional trade; (ii) the unilateral tariff-cutting that created "Factory Asia" is not subject to WTO discipline (bindings); (iii) there is no "top-level management" to substitute for WTO discipline, i.e., to ensure that bilateral trade tensions - tensions that are inevitable in East Asia - do not spillover into region-wide problems due to lack of cooperation and communication. This paper argues that the window of opportunity for East Asian "vision" was missed; what East Asia needs now is "management", not vision. East Asia should launch a "New East Asian Regional Management Effort", with a reinforced ASEAN 3 being the most likely candidate for the job. The first priority should be to bind the region's unilateral tariff cuts in the WTO.
Keywords: Regionalism, noodle bowl, East Asia
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