This volume is the result of collaborative research between ASEAN and South Asian scholars and deals with economic relations between two important regions.

Examines the rapidly expanding economic relations between ASEAN and China in recent years, covering trade, investments, economic challenges, competition and opportunities in the various sectors of the two economies.

"This book is the result of a workshop of the ASEAN Studies Centre (ASC) held in July 2010"--P. ix.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is strategically significant because of its size, dynamism, and role in the Asian economic and security architectures. This paper examines how ASEAN seeks to strengthen these assets through "centrality" in intraregional and external policy decisions. It recommends a two-speed approach toward centrality in order to maximize regional incomes and benefit all member economies: first, selective engagement by ASEAN members in productive external partnerships and, second, vigorous policies to share gains across the region. This strategy has solid underpinnings in the Kemp-Wan theorem on trade agreements. It would warrant, for example, a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with incomplete ASEAN membership, complemented with policies to extend gains across the region. The United States could support this framework by pursuing deep relations with some ASEAN members, while broadly assisting the region's development.

With China's dynamic economic growth, its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states have expanded rapidly in recent years, culminating in the conclusion of the landmark China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement in 2002. Beyond trade and economic activities, China-ASEAN cooperation has broadened to cover the environment, science and technology, non-traditional security areas and related legal issues. China's relations with ASEAN have reached a new era where the two sides have established an economic, legal and political framework for their comprehensive cooperation.This book provides a comprehensive overview of China-ASEAN relations from economic, legal and political perspectives and examines various important topics related to non-traditional security issues, free trade zone and regional economic integration, border trade and environmental issues, and maritime security.

This report analyzes how closer regional connectivity and economic integration between South Asia and Southeast Asia can benefit both regions, with a focus on the role played by infrastructure and public policies in facilitating this process. It examines major developments in South Asian–Southeast Asian trade and investment, economic cooperation, the role of economic corridors, and regional cooperation initiatives. In particular, it identifies significant opportunities for strengthening these integration efforts as a result of the recent opening up of Myanmar in political, economic, and financial terms. This is particularly the case for land-based transportation—highways and railroads—and energy trading. The report’s focus is on connectivity in a broad sense, covering both hardware and software, including investment in infrastructure, energy trading, trade facilitation, investment financing, and support for national and regional policies.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Examining how the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) has responded to external threats over the past 50 years, this book provides a compelling account of regional state actions and foreign policy in the face of potential sovereignty violation. The author draws on a large amount of previously unanalysed material, including declassified government documents and WikiLeaks cables, to examine four key cases since 1975. Taking into account state interests and the role of external powers, the author develops the ‘vanguard state theory’ to explain ASEAN state responses to sovereignty violation, which, it is argued, has universal applicability and explanatory power.