Regional Integration in East Asia: Can Japan Be a Leading Player?

Since the end of the Cold War, East Asia has been experiencing a growing commitment on the part of national governments towards regional cooperation in such key areas as trade, finance and security. The institutionalisation of intra-regional relations is investigated with a focus on the role of Japan, in order to assess the country’s past achievements, and potential for further contributions. The first section outlines in general terms what the incentives are to pursue multilateralism at regional level, then points at the problems that may arise from the formation of overlapping frameworks. The second section discusses more specifically the position of Japan with respect to the competing ‘Asian’ and ‘Asia-Pacific’ schemes, commenting on game theory as applied to the relation between these two regional models. On this basis, the latter part of the paper explores in detail the development of diplomatic frameworks in East Asia, seeking to explain the reasons for the centrality of ASEAN in the resulting regional architecture. The final paragraphs further elaborate on the Japanese perspective on the idea of an ‘East Asian community’, as expressed by successive cabinets in the last decade. The conclusion, while reaffirming that the open character of regionalism in East Asia allows Japan to take initiative as a major player, also addresses the political obstacles in the way of closer integration.