ABSTRACT
Where is East Asia headed? No one, of course, knows for sure, but the trend lines point to its continued economic growth and integration, which is underwritten by its relative peace and stability. As the region comes together economically, paced by the ongoing rise of China, it is reasonable to expect further moves to build an East Asian “community” around the reviving panAsianist idea of shared Asian values. These moves will be offset by the feud between Japan and China, which shows little sign of abating. There is also no early end in sight to the standoffs in the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, although the outbreak of war in either place seems increasingly unlikely. The War on Terrorism has highlighted the threat to Southeast Asia posed by Islamic extremists bent on waging “Holy War” against the West and Western ways, and creating fundamentalist Islamic states. But neither these militants nor their pan-Islamic ideology have much of a future in East Asia. With the demise of communism, nationalism and pan-Asianism hold sway, and the question is which will prevail. The outcome of ASEAN’s current effort to pull East Asia together around itself may hold the answer to this question.
