A Study on the Cooperation in the Asia-Pasific Area

Much has been discussed on formining the cooperation system in the Asia-Pacific area in 1990" s. It is mainly due to the remarkable economic growth and the increasing interdependence within this area. Changing situations of regional security since the end of the cold war, economic opening and the launching of WTO system, and the presence of exclusive regionalism make the cooperation in Asia-Pacific area more urgent and more important. Discussions on the cooperation issues in APEC have mainly focused on forming a regional economic community such as ED and NAFTA. But the Asia-Pacific is a vast region and it contains many countries having various political-military interests and sociocultural settings as well as economic interests. This area has relatively poor historical experience of economic cooperaton to Europe and North America. Political-military factors and sociocultural factors will influence economic liberalization and deregulation. This report examines the central issues of forming the cooperation system in Asia-Pacific area, which include market access and economic cooperation, political-military cooperation, sociocultural cooperation, relations with the sub？regionalism within this area, relations with other largescale blocs beyond this area. Consideration on these issues offers the alternative views to mere economic liberalization; Competitions for the economic or political-military hegemony will have harmful impacts on cooperation. And more inclusive and more balanced efforts are needed in political-military, economic, and sociocultural dimensions