ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book considers the start of economic reform in China as the watershed in structural change. It explores recent changes in Japanese energy policy and energy security especially in the wake of the triple disaster. Insecurity between China and the rest of East Asia began to decline. The East Asian paradox itself is not immutable, however, and recently, we have seen the movements away from this paradoxical outcome towards either the Liberal equilibrium or the Realist equilibrium. Especially, US–Japan relations are moving towards the Liberal equilibrium while Sino-Japanese relations were moving towards the Realist equilibrium. These changes were clear in the case studies described in the book. The book lists a variety of other factors that perturb bilateral political-economic relationships away from Realist and Liberal equilibria. Some of these factors include risk acceptance and aversion, no alternative site/cost differential effects and proximity.
