ASIAN

REGIONALISMS
 Asian
Regionalism
—The contemporary world that we
have right now can be closely related
to an association made of different
teams supporting each other while
performing specific tasks-- such as
producing high quality services or
goods.
 Asia
-Asia refer together to the regions of East (or Northeast)
Asia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and South Asia. In
addition to differences in language and culture, it includes
some of the world’s most economically developed states
such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, and
highly impoverished countries such as Cambodia, Laos and
Nepal. It includes the largest and most populous states on
the globe including China and India and some of the
world’s smallest such as the Maldives and Bhutan.
Regionalism Defined
-However, regionalism is not just a political or
an economic phenomenon, the term actually
encompasses an even wider area. It can also be
related to ethics, identities, culture, religion and
ecological sustainability. It is not only affected
by policy makers or economic actors; it is also
affected by social movements.
 Differences of Globalization and Regionalization
-Globalization is a phenomenon that describes the
interdependence of world economies with one another.
Basically, it is the process of international integration
arising from the interchange of world views, products
and ideas. Its scope is worldwide. On the other hand,
regionalization is a part of the process of globalization
but it focuses on specific regions wherein countries
function together. An example of one region is Southeast
Asia or Asia itself. Regionalization happens because of
the need of countries to secure their economy, health or
even safety through the help of their neighboring
countries.
Evolution of Asian Regionalism
-The success of Asian economies during the last decades is a
symbol of dynamism of East Asia. Almost all countries from East
Asia are called the tiger economies, namely Singapore, Hong
Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. During the postwar era, Asia
had experienced difficulties in managing their politics and
economy. The emergence of countries like Hong Kong, South
Korea, China and Japan signaled the advent of new economic
powers. With this, Asia’s neighboring countries started to adapt
strategies and initiatives from them when it comes to their
economy, security and politics. Before the dramatic rise, Asia
was a home for countries labeled as “underdeveloped”.
A. The Region as an Object
Impacted by Globalization
-An externalist view refers to the colonial
rule and dominance of Western countries
to Asian countries. In addition, the
technologically and industrially more
advanced Western powers found their
way to the region and alternatively
prodded and muscled their way to
political and economic dominance.
Colonial Rule and Dominance
- Colonialism in the region beginning from 1500s brought
enormous and devastating changes. An example of this was
the Portuguese invasion of Melaka in 1521 and the subsequent
fall of the sultanate which shifted political and economic
dynamics in Melaka and beyond. The arrival of Ferdinand
Magellan in 1521 in the Visayan region of the Philippines
marked the beginning of extended Spanish colonial rule in
those islands. The Dutch followed in the 17th century and
slowly strengthened their position in the Dutch East Indies.
The British also consolidated their power in South Asia, Burma
and the Malay peninsula while the French eventually took
control of Indo-China in the late 19th century.
 World War II
-World War II marks another way in which the region comes to be at
once integrated and influenced by external forces. After World War
II, concerns about political instability, faltering economic reform, and
the fall of China all pushed the United States and their occupation to
stress Japan’ economic growth and its incorporation into the world
economy (Ikenberry, 2007: 52). This meant opening up American
markets to Japanese goods, drawing on the Japanese market to supply
equipment and goods for US armed forces and other aid programs,
and eventually incorporating Japan into the multilateral economic
order including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(Ikenberry, 2007).
 Adoption of Export-oriented Growth
-In the 1980s and 1990s, Japan, Korea and Taiwan were able to adapt
economic policies in line with what they understood as an increasing
globalized economic system and benefitted from export-oriented
growth policies. This was followed by the high-flying growth of
Southeast Asian ‘tigers’ including Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore and Vietnam The East Asian countries and Southeast Asian
countries had some similarities including relatively close ties
between the state and business elite, some degree of autonomous
decision-making structure, and the rise of manufacturing. However,
Southeast Asian countries were more reliant on infusions of foreign
capital.
International Monetary Fund and World
Bank (Bretton Woods System)
-Part of the Bretton Woods System, IMF and World
Bank were the cornerstones of economic
liberalization and globalization in the post-war
global economy. Also, they soon turned their
attention to the developing world including
Southeast Asia.
 Asian Financial Crisis
-The IFIs and orthodox economists argued that the Asian Financial
Crisis in 1997 occurred due to poor policies, weak governance,
corruption, poor institutions and inadequate liberalization
(Rahman, 1998). According to Bello and Bullardand Malhotra (2000)
the other problem was the unfettered capital resulting from
processes of globalization over the past several decades. Both views
recognized the deep impact globalization has had on the economies
in the region and the influence it played in the 1997 crisis. The
financial crisis showed how deeply integrated the economy was in
the global financial system.
 Liberalization of Economy and
Membership to World Trade Organization
-China began liberalizing their economy in the late 1970s with
the reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping. India began to
liberalize their economy in 1991 and increased levels of trade
and foreign direct investment particularly in the textile and
services sectors of the economy. Mabtaney (2008) said that
both countries have experienced high levels of economic
growth as a result and have also become much more
integrated into the global economy including membership in
the World Trade Organization (WTO).
 Effects on Culture
-Globalization is leading to cultural homogenization and
destruction of cultural diversity. This can be seen in the
following:
● Increase in number of McDonald stores in Asia from 951 in
1987 to 7,000 in 2002;
● Rise of domestic fast food chains in Asia like Jollibee in the
Philippines, California Fried Chicken (CFC) in Indonesia, MOS
Burger in Japan, Jumbo King in India, etc.; and
● Rapid expansion of supermarkets in the region.
 The Region as
a Springboard
-A generative view shows how the
region as an active agent pushing the
process of globalization forward. It
can be seen as a force for good
bringing economic development,
political progress, and social and
cultural diversity to the region.
Spice trade
-As Anthony Reid notes, the Europeans did not create the
spice trade. Spices were already making their way to
various parts of the globe, but the Europeans were
interested in cutting out the middleman. Circumnavigating
the globe was a means to find cheaper and faster ways to
bring the goods back to Europe (Reid, 1988).
-In the same vein, some have argued that Asia, not the West,
was the central global force in the early modern world
economy because it was the site of the world’s most important
trade routes, and in some places more technologically advanced
than the West in key areas such as science and medicine.
Colonialism
-Colonialism too has come under a new lens recently as scholars have argued that
colonies in the Asia Pacific and South Asia and elsewhere influenced the West as much
as vice versa.
-Stoler argues that colonies were often ‘laboratories of modernity’ where ‘innovations in
political form, and social imaginary, and in what defined the modern itself, were not
European exports but traveled as often the other way around’ (Stoler, 2006: 41).
-In the Philippines, colonial policing in the American colony can be understood as a social
experiment that transformed both the Philippine polity as well as the US national security
state. Practices and technologies such as counter-insurgency, surveillance, and torture
were developed and perfected in the colonial Philippines before making their way back
to the core (McCoy and Scarano, 2009).
-In the fields of medicine and public health, American scientists and
physicians in the Philippines brought back colonial bureaucratic practices and
identities to urban health departments in the United States in the early
twentieth century (Warwick Anderson, 2006).
 RISE OF JAPAN, CHINA, AND INDIA

Japan
The end of World War II and the rise of the Cold War helped
bring Japan into the global economy. Japan as a resource poor
nation-state embarked on a massive project to procure raw
materials such as coal and iron at unprecedented economies
of scale allowing them to gain a competitive edge in the global
manufacturing market. This not only transformed the market
for these materials but also globalized shipping and
procurement patterns which influenced other sectors as well.
Furthermore, as Japan’s competitive advantage became
visible, other countries modeled their practices on theirs
further deepening the globalized patterns of procurement and
trade blazed by the Japanese (Bunker, 2007).
RISE OF JAPAN, CHINA, AND INDIA
China
China can also be seen as pursuing a similar pattern of development
today. It is now one of the world’s largest importers of basic raw
materials such as iron and has surpassed Japan, the United States, and
Europe in steel production. In terms of its low wage labor and supply
chain management, China has also had an enormous impact on the
availability and consumption of goods around the globe (Nolan, 2004).
China has also now surpassed the World Bank in lending to
developing counties. The China Development Bank and the China
Export Import Bank signed loans of at least US$110 billion to other
developing country governments and companies in 2009 and 2010,
surpassing the US$100.3 billion from mid-2008 to mid฀2010 by the
IFIs (Dyer et al., 2011). The implications here are political as well as
economic. Grants and loans made by states can often have economic
and political strings attached as the Japanese experience has shown
(Islam, 1991).
RISE OF JAPAN, CHINA, AND INDIA

India
India is often mentioned in the same breath as
China for its scale and impact on globalization.
India too has opened up and emphasized an
export-oriented strategy. Textiles and other
low wage sectors have been a key part of the
economy, but high value exports such as
software development have also been highly
successful. It is also playing a key role in global
service provision as trends in outsourcing and
off฀shoring increase (Dossani and Kenney,
2007).
International migrant labor
-India and China, among others in the region, have become a major source of international
migrant labor, which is also one of the fundamental characteristics of the era of globalization. This
includes the migration of highly skilled labor into the high-tech industry based in Silicon Valley,
which includes a disproportionate number of immigrants from India and China. But much more
prominent is the flow of domestic workers to other places in the region, or to the Middle East,
Europe, and the United States. Much of this migration has received international attention because
it is often undocumented and working conditions can be poor, even deadly.

Remittance from migrant workers

Women constitute a large majority of many countries’ migrant pool including Indonesian (79 per cent), the
Philippines (71 per cent) and Sri Lanka (66 per cent) (Kee, Yoshimatsu and Osaki, 2010: 30). Remittances from
migrants have also become a core source of income for many of the region’s economies. Sometimes, these
exceed the flow of official development assistance (ODA) or foreign direct assistance (FDI) (Kee, Yoshimatsu
and Osaki, 2010: 32). In the Philippines, remittances are now equal to 11 per cent of the entire economy (The
Economist, 2010). In 2007, India, China, and the Philippines were three of the top four recipient states of
migrant remittances totaling US$70 billion (the other country was Mexico) (Kee, Yoshimatsu and Osaki,
2010: 32). In other words, the region is both the source and recipient of the influences of the massive
globalization of migration.
Regional free trade arrangements
Another broad trend in the Asia Pacific and South Asia is the rise of regional free trade
arrangements. This regionalism can be interpreted either as a kind of bulwark to globalization
or as compatible and even pushing forward the process of global economic integration.
Proponents of the latter view argue that regionalism can promote learning, assuage domestic
audiences to the benefits of free trade, and form the institutional framework to scale up from
regional cooperation to global cooperation (Lee and Park, 2005). In other words, regionalism
can act as a springboard for globalization. One of the distinguishing features of regional
institutions in Asia Pacific and South Asia has been the adoption of ‘open regionalism’ which
aims to develop and maintain cooperation with outside actors. This form of regionalism was
meant to resolve the tension between the rise of regional trade agreements and the push for
global trade as embodied by the WTO (Bergsten, 1997). ‘Open’ refers to the principle of non-
discrimination, more specifically an openness in membership and openness in terms of
economic flows (Sutton, 2007). Most regional trade agreements and organizations in other
regions including North America (NAFTA) and Europe (the European Union) tend to be
exclusive and thereby ‘closed’.
Open regionalism
Open regionalism is embodied by Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC.
Formed in 1989, it includes 21 member economies along the Pacific Rim including East
Asian and Southeast Asian states but also Russia, Peru, Chile, the United States and
Canada. As the 1990 Ministerial Declaration states, ‘it was desirable to reduce barriers
to trade in goods and services among participants so long as such liberalization was
consistent with GATT principles and was not to the detriment of other parties. To be
sure, APEC has faced significant challenges especially in the wake of the 1997 Asian
Financial Crisis and the more recent global economic crisis. However, it continues to
push for a vision of regional cooperation that is consistent with and advances
globalization. A final area to consider is the broad area of culture and globalization in
the region
Asian Products in Global Market
The region is the source of a wide variety of cultural phenomena that have also spread
outward to the West and the rest of the world. ‘Hello Kitty’, created in Japan by the
Sanrio Group in 1974, for example, has become a massive global success. It can be seen
on a range of products from pencils and erasers to designer handbags and
diamond฀encrusted watches and generates a billion dollars in revenue annually.
Anime (and other entertainment products from Japan) has become a regional and
global phenomenon including Pokemon, Mario Brothers, Astroboy, and Power
Rangers among others. Much of this has come to be understood as the spread of a
kawaii or ‘cute’ culture, or what some have called ‘Pink Globalization’ (Yano, 2009:
681–8). Japan holds no monopoly in this domain of cultural globalization. In terms of
cinema for example, films ranging from ‘Kung-fu’ movies to Bollywood have become
massively popular in the West, not to mention individual filmmakers from the region
with global acclaim.
Asian Products in Global Market
More recently, there has been a regional and global rise in
Korean popular culture dubbed the ‘K-Wave’ that includes
the spread of Korean dramas as well as music (K฀pop). Nothing
demonstrates this better than the smash hit, ‘Gangnam Style’
by Korea pop star PSY. Released in July 2012, the song and
music video became a viral sensation on YouTube, topping
music charts in over two dozen countries including France,
Germany, Poland, Mexico, Australia, Norway, and Lebanon,
and subsequently won Best Video at the MTV Europe Music
Awards (Gangnam Style: PSY 2012). Globalization has not been
a one-way street. While there is little doubt that the Asia
Pacific and South Asia have very much been on the receiving
end of globalization, it is also true that the region is generative
of many aspects of the globalization process. This can be seen
both historically and more recently and across a broad variety
of domains from the economy to political structures to
culture.
The Region as an Alternative to
Globalization
The arguments from this perspective see the region as a source of resistance to
globalization or to global or Western powers. Japan’s colonization of the region in 1930s
and 1940s and the building of a supposed East Asian Co฀Prosperity Sphere merely
replicated imperial relationships in East and Southeast Asia with new masters. The
‘Sphere’ referred initially to Japan, China, and Manchukuo. With the outbreak of World
War II, the members of the Sphere included Japan, Manchukuo, Mangjiang (Outer
Mongolia), the Republic of China, States of Burma, Republic of the Philippines, Empire of
Vietnam, Kingdom of Kampuchea, Kingdom of Laos, Azad Hind, and Kingdom of
Thailand (Beasley, 2000). The failure of the Co-prosperity Sphere was a result not only
of Japan’s loss in the World War II, but also the overt racism of Japan itself towards its
supposed co-members. It soon became clear that the Sphere was for Japanese interests
only at the expense of the interests of the fellow members.
 The Concept of Asian Values
According to Prime Minister Mohamed Mahathir of Malaysia,
Asia has culturally distinct characteristics that make it different
from Western liberal democracies. Mahathir noted that “the
Asian way is to reach consensus on national goals with the
democratic framework to take the middle path to exercise
tolerance and sensitivity towards others. This contrasts to
Western values where every individual can do what he likes,
free from any restraint by government. Furthermore, Asian
respect hard work, thrift, authority and emphasize community
over the individual. Asian operates based on harmony and
consensus rather than majority rule.
 Regional Arrangements
Another way the region serves as an alternative to globalization is
through the lens of regional arrangements. The East Asia Economic
Caucus (EAEC) was pushed as an alternative to APEC, an APEC
without Western states. The proposed member-states were ASEAN,
China, Korea and Japan. A second institutional example along the
same lines was the proposed Asian Monetary Fund (AMF). The fund
was envisioned to have a capitalization of US$100 billion and
include ten members – China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea,
Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the
Philippines. USA was not included from the proposed-membership
which resulted for the US to strike down the proposal.
Emergence of Regional Terror Network
The emergence of regional terror networks such as Jemaah
Islamiyah or JI is a more subversive articulation of
regionalism as an alternative to the West. According to
International Crisis Group (2002), JI’s main operations have
been in Indonesia with apparent links in Malaysia,
Philippines, and Thailand among others. JI is infamous for
the 2002 Bali bombings which took place in a night club in
the resort town of Kuta and Killed more than 200 people,
mostly Australian and other foreign nationals. The alleged
goals of JI are territorial and also regionalist, to create an
Islamic state in Indonesia. followed by a pan-Islamic
caliphate incorporating Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and the
southern Philippines.
 Local Movements Emerged
The village of Santi Suk in Thailand created their own currency
following the Asian Financial Crisis that struck the region in Thailand.
The currency is called the ‘bia’ which can be used to purchase various
commodities but cannot be used outside of participating villages and
cannot be exchanged for Thailand’s national currency. Community
currency is an example of a larger trend in self฀sufficiency
movements that emerged in Thailand after the Asian Financial Crisis.
In Japan, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and the Seikatsu
Club both encourage consumers to buy ethically and locally. Lok
Samiti Group in India advocates local village level education and
development and campaigns against the Coca-Cola bottling plant in
Mehdiganj.