This study examines the case for and against regional financial arrangements in East Asia, describes the Chiang Mai Initiative, compares it to financial arrangements in other regions. It speaks specifically to the concerns of American, European and multilateral organizations, assessing the pros and cons for the global system of such regional financial arrangements.

"This paper argues that a regional financial architecture needs to be firmly established in East Asia, outlines recent developments in financial cooperation in the region, and provides possible directions for the future". -- p. 1.

Since the Asian financial crisis of 1997OCo1998, there has been a deep and abiding desire on the part of Asian policy makers and opinion makers to enhance the region''s economic, monetary and financial self-sufficiency OCo or at least to ring-fence the region against financial instability and give it a louder voice in global financial affairs. There has been progress in these directions, notably in the form of the Chiang Mai Initiative of financial supports and the Asian Bond Market Initiative to build a single Asian financial market. But progress is hindered by disagreements among the principal national governments OCo Japan, China and South Korea OCo and resistance to the development of an Asian bloc from both Europe and the United States. This volume considers these issues from a number of different national and analytical perspectives. Scholars from all the relevant regions and countries are represented: Japan, China, Korea, Europe and the United States. While there have been a few previous books and articles concerned with the issue of Asian integration, this is one of the first volumes to successfully draw together top contributors from these different countries and regions to address the issues in a rigorous but relatively accessible way.

The book intents to locate the process and effectiveness of cooperation in East Asia, to regard the construction of the East Asian community as the ideal, to see the contradictions and difficulties in construction as the reality, and to identify the actual development and achievement as the choice and effort between the two. The year of 1997 saw the Asian financial crisis, which turned out to be a disaster but also opened up an opportunity for East Asia to establish cooperation mechanisms. Starting with the crisis, this book examines the origin and development of the East Asian cooperation movement. More importantly, it investigates the obstacles and resistance, and provides insights into the cooperation within East Asia in the context of unstable political environments. Specifically, it expounds the East Asian Free Trade Area, monetary cooperation, as well as the cooperation within Northeast Asian and Asia-Pacific regions.

The global financial crisis and the Eurozone crisis have led to a profound rethink in East Asia about the international monetary system and regional monetary and financial integration. After the East Asian crisis of 1997, deeper regional cooperation was seen as the way to avoid reliance on the IMF and the rest of the world. Steps were taken, but they were limited because of disagreements reflecting regional rivalries. Still, integration into the global financial system and Europe's regional process were seen as objectives to be adapted to East Asia, as detailed in an overview chapter. The crises have shaken this strategy but also revealed the pre-existing deep disagreements. This book presents contributions by scholars from different countries. Each one was invited to describe the vision of their policymakers. The traidtional rivalry between China and Japan, the region's largest economies, reveals Chinese confidence into its rising power and Japanese growing doubts about its ability to weigh on the debate. For opposite reasons, both display a declining interest into regional cooperation. Korea and the ASEAN countries do not wish to choose between the regional powers but remain attached to regional cooperation and integration. They look for pragmatic solutions that recognize the value-chain characteristic of trade. Additional contributions by US and European scholars provide evaluations of the global and Eurozone crises and of their relevance for East Asian integration.

Since the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98, East Asian economies have sought to make themselves less vulnerable to global financial markets by transforming the regional financial architecture. With Japan as a leading actor, they have introduced initiatives to provide emergency financing to crisis economies, support the development of local-currency bond markets, and better coordinate currency policies. In Currency and Contest in East Asia, William W. Grimes builds on years of primary research and scores of interviews with participants and policy analysts to provide the most accurate, complete, and detailed description available of attempts to build financial cooperation among East Asian countries. Adapting realist political economy theory to the realities of contemporary global finance, Grimes places regional issues firmly in the wider context of great-power rivalries. He argues that financial regionalism can best be understood as one arena for competition among Japan, the United States, and China. Despite their mutual desire for regional prosperity and economic stability, these three powers have conflicting political interests. Their struggles for regional leadership raise questions about the long-term feasibility of regional financial cooperation, the possible effects of Sino-Japanese rivalry on regional financial stability, and the potential for East Asian financial regionalism to undermine the long-established-albeit waning-global and regional dominance of the United States and the dollar.

China's strategy towards East Asian regional cooperation since the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98Since the Asian Financial Crisis of '97-98 China has taken a leading role in East Asian economic cooperation initiatives, centred around the powerful ASEAN Plus Three mechanism (The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, plus South Korea, Japan and China). This brand new book from the International Poverty Reduction Centre of China's Qianqian Liu outlines exactly how and why China has pursued economic and diplomatic cooperation throughout the post-crisis years. Methodical and richly detailed, it offers a unique empirical analysis of China's actions and involvements with ASEAN Plus Three and the East Asian Summit.Author Qianqian Liu's integrated theoretical approach captures and pieces together the intricacies of Chinese interactions with its East Asian partners - enabling the reader to better understand the dynamics of China's regional behaviour and foreign policy. Together with research-based insight and data covering all aspects of this critical subject, the author proposes two key assertions. Firstly that China-US relations have played a significant part in China's increasingly cooperative approach to China-East Asia relations. And secondly, that China has maximised mechanisms of regional economic cooperation as a means of enhancing its influence in East Asia.Key features and benefits:- Unveils China's perspectives on regional cooperation by extensively exploring Chinese source material and materials - information only now available thanks to increased openness and liberalisation- Offers a key contribution to wider theoretical debates on China's rise and regional intensions- Examines the vital interconnections between the key contemporary International Relations theories - realism, liberalism and constructivism - rather than examining them as separate elements to help fully explain China's strategies and goals- Analytical coverage of China's involvement with both ASEAN Plus Three and the East Asia Summit- Offers comparisons between European regionalism and East Asian regionalism- Reveals Chinese perspectives on how China-US relations have helped shape China's approach to East Asia economic cooperationRegional Cooperation and China's Strategy Towards East Asia is published as part of a brand new series from Paths International, China and International Organisations Series. Published in association with China's Social Sciences Academic Press. Contents: 1, Introduction2, The Historical Development of East Asia and the Rise of China before 19973, The Asian Financial Crisis, China's Accession to the WTO and China's Participation in Regional Cooperation from 1997 to 19994, China's Regional Strategy from the end of 1999 to the end of 20055, China's Participation in Regional Cooperation in East Asia from the end of 2005 to mid-2009 6, Conclusions