ABSTRACT
The upsurge in new economic regionalism in Asia and the Pacific constitutes a major toolkit in US and Chinese struggles to form a new regional economic order in Asia. The EU and Japan have taken rather distinct approaches in this field, as illustrated by their responses to the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Belt and Road initiative (BRI), as well as in trade diplomacy. This chapter discusses the actions and long-term objectives of the EU and Japan, and explores to what extent they have set out to coordinate their foreign economic policies. It concludes that the momentum appears to be finally building, but much more can be done to support their strategic and geo-economic interests.
