Asia-Pacific Regional Economic Integration: Coopetition vs. Conflict

• Main Author: YuJane Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Sun Yat-sen University 2016-04-01
• Series: Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal
• Subjects: regional economic integration; TPP; RCEP; Asia-Pacific region; FTA
• Online Access: http://rpb115.nsysu.edu.tw/var/file/131/1131/img/2375/CCPS2(1)-Chen.pdf

In the era of economic globalization, promoting regional trade agreements or regional cooperation has become a plausible strategy to attract foreign direct investment and to promote national competitiveness at a global level. Nonetheless, facing the differential national economic interests and the needs of protection of domestic industries, as well as the diverse levels of economic liberalization domestically, the involvement of FTA negotiation in every country is universally in the situation of struggling between securing economic sovereignty and national economic development. Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are in the same situation. This article analyzes how countries balance between securing economic sovereignty and promoting national economic development when they are involved in TPP and RCEP negotiations. By confirming the appropriate linkage between each participating countries’ decision for balancing between domestic economic sovereignty and further integrating into regional economic cooperation institutions the validity of the proposition for this research project can be verified.