The EU’s Experience in Integration: A Model for ASEAN+3?

The thirteen ASEAN+3 countries are inching forward toward closer economic cooperation. Can the European Union serve as a model for this Asian interregional integration process? Although there are common cultural threads running through all ASEAN+3 countries, these countries have not so far envisaged themselves forming a political and supra-national legal community similar to the EU. Nevertheless, the EU as innovator and forerunner offers Asia an unparalleled road map to further regional integration.
Where are the boundaries of the European Model? What form will Asian economic cooperation take? Asian and European scholars discussed these and other pressing questions on the invitation of the EU-China European Studies Centres Programme (ESCP) at a conference entitled «The EU’s Experience in Integration – A Model for ASEAN+3?» held in Shanghai in January 2006. Their findings are presented in this collection of fifteen papers on politics, economics and history of the two regions.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Yeongseop Rhee/Hee-Yul Chai: Comparison of Financial Integration Process between East Asia and Europe – Yibing Ding: Symmetry of Economic Shocks and Regional Economic Cooperation: A Comparative Empirical Analysis among East Asia and Euro Area – Silviu Jora: Patterns of Development through «Europeanization» - Towards a Universal Modus Operandi? – Jiancheng Zhu: Enlightenment of European Integration to ASEAN+3 – Xueyu Wang: Integration and the Peaceful Change of Regional Order: European Experience and East Asian Strategic Choice – Rajendra K. Jain: European Integration and South Asian Regionalism. Lessons and Relevance of European Experiences – Guichang Zhu: Comparing the European Model and the ASEAN Way: Is there a Third Way of Regionalism for the East Asian Cooperation? – Hong Cai: Competition Law and Integration: EC’s Experience and Asean+3’s Choice – Yiping Zhu: The Process of Economic Integration in ASEAN+3: From Free Trade Area to Monetary Cooperation or Vice Versa? – Noer Azam Achsani/Hermanto Siregar: Financial and Economic Integration. Experience of the EU and Future Prospect for ASEAN+3 – Shao-Zhou Qi/Wei Luo/Jian Liu/You-jun Li: Monetary Cooperation in East Asia and Experiences from the Euro – Mingqi Xu: The Euro and Its Implication to East Asia – Lingli Zheng: Deepening versus Widening of the Integration Trade Area: How to Govern Both Processes from Legal Perspectives? – Xinxuan Cheng/Yuke Zhang: The Effects of Overlapping Free Trade Agreements and their Relevance to China – Byeong-Hae Sohn/Sung-Hoon Park: Regionalization of World Trade and Economic Integration in East Asia.

About the Author :
The Editors: Lisheng Dong is Professor of Political Science at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), China, and Chinese Director of the ESCP Management Office. He has published 11 books and 13 refereed articles and contributed to 13 books. Professor Dong’s monograph entitled A Comparative Study of the Central-Local Government Relations in EU Member States (Beijing 2000) was well received in China.
Günter Heiduk is Professor of International Economics at Duisburg-Essen University, Germany, and Director of the Asia-Pacific Economic Research Institute. He has been a visiting Professor at leading Chinese and Japanese universities. He has published 20 books and more than 40 articles in academic journals. Professor Heiduk initiated the East Asian Studies Programme at Duisburg University and founded the Schriftenreihe zur Ostasien-Forschung journal where he is now co-editor.

Review :
«This highly comprehensive research provides invaluable insight into malfunctions in the Asian system – the difficulties with reconciling Japan and China, the lack of a hard core to catalyse integration, ineffective financial integration and the need for greater political convergence – while trying to find solutions to ensure that ASEAN+3 can become a true regional power.» (TBa, Bulletin Quotidien Europe)