ABSTRACT
The rapid sell-off of local currencies and resultant financial and economic crisis that hit East Asia during 1997-1999, and the mixed and uneven recovery among affected countries, dealt a severe blow to the momentum of trans-regional cooperation ventures such as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). From then on, the leading attempt to forge a regional order in East Asia has been centered on the ASEAN + China, Japan and Korea (ASEAN + 3), an arrangement that traces its roots back to the East Asia Economic Group vision espoused by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed in 1990, which has expanded into the East Asian Summit since 2005.
