Apec at a crossroads: Challenges and opportunities

Asian Perspective

Volumn 33, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 97-124

  Park, Sung Hoon ^a   Lee, Jeong Yeon ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

APEC; Asia trade; East Asian economy; East Asian security

Indexed keywords

EID: 77749334699     PISSN: 02589184     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/apr.2009.0019     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. For a list of member economies, see the Appendix to this article
2. Charles Morrison describes APEC as "the first broad regional institution for intergovernmental dialogue on economic policy issues." See Morrison, "APEC: The Evolution of an Institution," in Vinod Aggarwal and Charles Morrison, eds., Asia-Pacific Crossroads: The Regime Creation and the Future of APEC (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998).
3. At the behest of China, a ministerial-level official represents Taiwan in the leaders' meeting under the name of Chinese Taipei
4. Among others, see J. H. Yoo, "APEC Eui Saeroun Gidae" (The New Expectations for APEC), The Word Economy 2004-6 (Seoul: Korea Institute for Economic Policy, 2004).
5. The WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) is often cited as one such example. See C. Fred Bergsten, "Open Regionalism" (IIE Working Paper 97-03, Institute for International Economics, 1997).
6. For this line of argument, see C. B. Lee, "2005 APEC Jongsanghoiui Songkongjok Gaechoirul Wihan Gwaje" (The Issues for Successfully Hosting 2005 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting) (Seminar Proceedings, KIEP/KOPEC Seminar, 2002).
7. For details, see J. H. Yoo, APEC Gwa Sinkukjejilso (APEC and the New World Economic Order) (Seoul: Nanam, 1995).
8. APEC Secretariat, APEC Fact Sheet, online at www.apec.org/apec/news ___media/fact_sheets/about_apec.html (accessed September 29, 2008).
9. See APEC Secretariat, APEC Outcomes and Outlook 2007-2008 (Singapore, 2008), p. 30. In addition to the eight principles covered in this article, another-"simultaneous start, continuous process, and differentiated timetables"-is also mentioned. We do not include it because we feel it mostly overlaps with the "flexibility" principle.
10. For related discussions, see Yoo, APEC and the New World Economic Order
11. Sung-Hoon Park, "Alternative Scenarios of APEC's Longterm Development and the Role of Korea," (paper for a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Presentation at IR/PS, UC San Diego, 2004)
12. Every year, all member economies submit their own Individual Action Plans (IAPs) which are then reviewed by other members
13. Similar trans-regional agreements include: the Transatlantic Economic Partnership (TEP) that seeks to connect the United States and Europe; and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) that bridges East Asia and Europe
14. John Ravenhill also cites this lack of consensus over objectives. He also points to "the absence of an institutionalized driving force for the grouping" and "a failure to engage with civil society" as possible reasons for APEC's failure to secure tangible benefits. John Ravenhill, "APEC Adrift: Implications for Economic Regionalism in Asia and the Pacific," The Pacific Review, vol. 13, No. 2 (2000), pp. 319-33.
15. Robert Gilpin also emphasizes the lack of objectives in addition to the inefficiency of organization and the impropriety of authority in explaining why APEC has limited influence in the world order compared to EU and NAFTA, and why APEC is likely to remain as a "minor player" without fundamental reform. See Gilpin, "APEC in a New International Order," in Donald Hellmann and Kenneth Pyle, eds., From APEC to Xanadu: Creating a Viable Community in the Post-Cold War Pacific (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1997), pp. 29-30.
16. This was proposed by the first report of the Eminent Persons' Group (EPG), an expert advisory committee of APEC, which was in position until 1995
17. See Ravenhill, "APEC Adrift."
18. For a discussion of FTAs in the APEC region and their implications for meeting the Bogor goals, see Sung-Hoon Park, "Free Trade Agreements in the APEC Region: An Evolutionary Path to Bogor Goals" (APEC Study Series 08-02, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, 2008)
19. Richard Baker, "The United States and APEC Regime Building," in Aggarwal and Morrison, eds., Asia-Pacific Crossroads.
20. He listed PAFTAD (Pacific Trade and Development Conference), PBEC, and PECC in addition to APEC as examples of these organizations. See Takashi Terada, "The Origins of Japan's APEC Policy: Foreign Minister Takeo Miki's Asia-Pacific Policy and Current Implications," The Pacific Review, vol. 11, No. 3 (1998), pp. 337-63.
21. Peter Drysdale, "Japan's Approach to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation" (Pacific Economic Papers 281, Australia-Japan Research Center, Australian National University, July 1998)
22. For the background of this strategy, see Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tsutomu Kikuchi, "Japan's Approach to APEC and Regime Creation in the Asia-Pacific," in Aggarwal and Morrison, eds., Asia-Pacific Crossroads.
23. For examples of a policy breakdown due to the difference in the U.S. and Japanese positions in APEC and other regional cooperation frameworks, see David Rapkin, "The United States, Japan, and the Power to Block: the APEC and AMF Cases," The Pacific Review, vol. 14, No. 3 (2001), pp. 373-410.
24. Yamamoto and Kikuchi, "Japan's Approach to APEC."
25. See Lu Jianren, "Expectation from APEC 2004," Beijing Review, vol. 47 (November 1, 2004).
26. See Zhang Yunling, "China and APEC," in Aggarwal and Morrison, eds., Asia-Pacific Crossroads.
27. China's principles went through slight modifications over time. Ibid., pp. 222-26.
28. See Zhao Jianglin, "APEC and China's Opening," China Today, October 2001
29. His speech is available at www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zzjg/gjs/gjzzyhy/2604/2606/t172477.htm.
30. For a summary of China's FTAs with APEC members as well as nonmember countries, see Park, "Free Trade Agreements in the APEC Region."
31. The shares of APEC members in Korea's total FDI inflows are respectively 57 percent in 1998, 77 percent in 2002, and 43 percent in 2007. The increasing FDI inflows from Europe account for APEC's declining share of late.
32. See Sylvia Ostry, "APEC and Regime Creation in the Asia-Pacific: An OECD Model?" in Aggarwal and Morrison, eds., Asia-Pacific Crossroads.
33. See John McKay, "The New Security Agenda and Emerging Concepts of Regional Resilience: A Discussion and Research Proposal," paper presented at the APEC Study Center Consortium Conference, Vietnam, May 2006, p. 9.
34. C. Fred Bergsten, "Committing the United States to Its Own Proposal Is a Start," Australian Financial Review, September 3, 2007.
35. One study estimated an economic welfare benefit from an FTAAP for eighteen out of the twenty-one APEC member economies to be over $44 billion. See Myron Brilliant, "A Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific: An Idea with Merit, but Is It Feasible? (Brookings Northeast Asia Commentary, Brookings Institution, September 2007).
36. This idea is somewhat similar to the current EU practice of creating a "FTA network around the EU." Sung-Hoon Park labeled this process "opening the regionalism." See Park, "Liberalizing the World Trade through Open Regionalism: Options for APEC in the 21st Century," paper presented at the APEC Study Center Consortium Meeting/Conference, Malaysia, August 1998.
37. See Christopher Dent, "Full Circle? Ideas and Ordeals of Creating a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific," The Pacific Review, vol. 20, No. 4 (December, 2007), pp. 447-74.
38. See Park, "Free Trade Agreements in the APEC Region."
39. Aggarwal, Vinod and Charles Morrison, eds. Asia-Pacific Crossroads: The Regime Creation and the Future of APEC. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.
40. Bergsten, C. Fred. "Open Regionalism," IIE Working Paper 97-03, Institute for International Economics, 1997.
41. Brilliant, Myron. "A Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific: An Idea with Merit, but Is It Feasible?" Brookings Northeast Asia Commentary, The Brookings Institution, September 2007.
42. Dent, Christopher. "Full Circle? Ideas and Ordeals of Creating a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific," The Pacific Review, vol. 20, No. 4 (December, 2007), pp. 447-74.
43. Drysdale, Peter. "Japan's Approach to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation," Pacific Economic Papers 281, Australia-Japan Research Center, Australian National University, July 1998.
44. Gilpin, Robert. "APEC in a New International Order," in Donald Hellmann and Kenneth Pyle, eds., From APEC to Xanadu: Creating a Viable Community in the Post-Cold War Pacific. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1997.
45. McKay, John. "The New Security Agenda and Emerging Concepts of Regional Resilience: A Discussion and Research Proposal." Paper presented at the APEC Study Center Consortium Conference, Vietnam, May 2006.
46. Park, Sung-Hoon. "Liberalizing the World Trade through Open Regionalism: Options for APEC in the 21st Century." Paper presented at the APEC Study Center Consortium Meeting/Conference, Malaysia, August 1998.
47. Park, Sung-Hoon. "Alternative Scenarios of APEC's Long-term Development and the Role of Korea." Paper for a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Presentation at IR/PS, University of California, San Diego, 2004.
48. Park, Sung-Hoon. "Free Trade Agreements in the APEC Region: An Evolutionary Path to Bogor Goals," APEC Study Series 08-02, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, 2008.
49. Rapkin, David. "The United States, Japan, and the Power to Block: the APEC and AMF Cases," The Pacific Review, vol. 14, No. 3 (2001), pp. 373-410.
50. Ravenhill, John. "APEC Adrift: Implications for Economic Regionalism in Asia and the Pacific," The Pacific Review, vol. 13, No. 2 (2000), pp. 319-33.
51. Terada, Takashi. "The Origins of Japan's APEC Policy: Foreign Minister Takeo Miki's Asia-Pacific Policy and Current Implications," The Pacific Review, vol. 11, No. 3 (1998), pp. 337-63.
52. Yoo, J. H. APEC Gwa Sinkukjejilso (APEC and the New World Economic Order). Seoul, Korea: Nanam, 1995.
53. Yoo, J. H. "APEC Eui Saeroun Gidae" (The New Expectations for APEC), in The World Economy 2004-6. Seoul: Korea Institute for Economic Policy, 2004.