ABSTRACT
The geographic focus is somewhat understandable because most of the interest in the region has been prompted by the impressive economic advances of a growing number of countries in East Asia. The notions of the ‘Pacific Basin’ or the ‘Pacific Rim’ or the ‘Asian-Pacific’ provide a purely geographic description of the region. Although the notion of pan-Asian unity is credible, many of the inherently divisive forces and circumstances that exist in East Asia are blithely overlooked. The vulnerability of many Asian political institutions was heightened by resurgent and insurgent nationalism leading toward de-colonialization and the loss of empire by European powers. Western interaction with Asian institutional arrangements seldom resulted in a clear understanding of the potentials for success and failure in the region. An important influence on the historical evolution of the ‘Asian Century’ is the apparently increasing dominance of the ‘Overseas Chinese,’ that is, ethnic Chinese living outside mainland China.
