An East Asian Community and the United States

Ten years after the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, East Asia is a region of dynamic growth and East Asian economies are striding again. However, no one calls the dynamic growth of East Asia a miracle anymore; it is a fact of economic life in today's world. Uncertainty obviously abounds around the future of East Asian economies, especially China's, but it has become an assumption of many business people and politicians that economies in East Asia will continue to be one of the centers of the world economy. These developments, the re-establishment of East Asia as a center of global economic growth and the emergence of regionalism, are important not only for East Asia itself but also for the entire world, including the United States. The purpose of this volume is to demonstrate how phenomenal the East Asian regionalization is and how wide-ranging changes are taking place in various sectors of international relations. By examining these changes, this volume is also intended to explore how these East Asian developments affect the East Asian relations with the United States. In fact, it is impossible to understand East Asian developments without examining the role of the United States. The alliance systems of the United States have set the political parameters in East Asia. The U.S. market is the most important destination of the manufactured goods that East Asian economies produce. In addition to these obvious facts about the important roles played by the United States, this volume intends to demonstrate the importance of the process of international relations between East Asia and the United States.

Ralph A. Cossa is president of the Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu. Akihiko Tanaka is professor of international relations and director of the Institute of Oriental Culture at the University of Tokyo.