ABSTRACT
Terms like the 'Pacific Age', 'Pacific Era', or 'Pacific Century' have been widely used in modern discussions about the Pacific region. Often the word 'Asia' is included in the term, as 'Asia Pacific', 'Asian Pacific', 'Asia-Pacific', or 'Asia/Pacific', but for historical reasons we shall use here mainly the former expression. The terms connote the transference of the world's economic, political, and cultural centre from Western Europe or North Atlantic to the Pacific region. The Pacific Age is a dream of a prosperous, prestigious, peaceful, and proud region, where the attention of die world is concentrated, and which leads the world in all relevant dimensions.
