ABSTRACT
The agenda of international economic co-operation has become increasingly important in the globalizing world of the last several decades. This trend has become especially pronounced since the end of the Cold War and can be as strongly identified in the Asia-Pacific region as in any other part of the world. As most of the chapters in this book demonstrate, East Asia is becoming a more significant economic player in the global economic order, beginning to compare favourably in brute economic terms with Europe and North America. As a consequence the global economic balance of power is becoming more regionally triangular in shape. While North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific do not make three distinct ‘trade blocs’, three distinct powerful regional economies are, nevertheless, in the process of consolidation. These developments have considerable consequences for the management of global economic relations.
