As the multilateral trade negotiations launched at Qatar in 2001 reeled from one collapse to another before stalling with no obvious end in sight in 2008, economies seeking new commercial opportunities turned en masse to the pursuit of bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs). Indeed...

The idea of an East Asian Economic Zone, while much talked about since the 1980s, showed few signs of becoming a reality as a result of economic diplomacy alone. In 1997, however, international capital markets treated East Asian economies as a distinct region as “contagion” swept from...

Economic integration is evolving rapidly in East Asia, driven by a multitude of factors. The most important of these has been the entrenchment of China in the global division of labour and its increasingly important role as an independent engine of growth in the global economy. Business-led East...