ABSTRACT
The future of regional cooperation in Northeast Asia rests on the policies and politics of China. Will China be able or not to transform Asia in China’s image, authoritarian and Sinocentric? Muthiah Alagappa relies on the ASEAN way of regional integration to prevent that outcome.1 In the ASEAN way, mutual economic success provides societal stability and trumps irredentist mobilizations for war about territorial claims. Regional peace and prosperity are then perpetuated. Without impeding any party’s sovereignty, the ASEAN way facilitates a uniquely successful form of regional cooperation that socializes China to the status quo. Samuel Kim is even more optimistic.2 He sees the rise of China greatly intensifying these win-win regional arrangements.
