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This chapter tries to reveal the historical origins and features of regional integration in East Asia from a historical perspective, by focusing on a quite unique concept for mega-regional integration—“open regionalism”—with reference to several Japanese plans and national strategies in the postwar period. “Open regionalism” has been symbolized in the establishment of a new regional organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum from 1989 to the present. The regional unit and perception of the “Asia-Pacific” are a newly created framework that includes Northeast Asia (a narrower sense of “East Asia”), Southeast Asia, and Australasia, as well as the western coasts of the USA, Canada, and some Latin American countries (Mexico, Peru, and Chile). In this sense, the “Asia-Pacific” is a wider regional or analytical framework than “East Asia.” Nowadays, over 50% of global gross domestic product (GDP) is produced in this region and the scale of the “Asia-Pacific economy” is bigger than that of the trans-Atlantic economy. In order to clearly understand the historical origins and the evolution of the Asia-Pacific economy and the Asia-Pacific region, we need to analyze the following three factors: (1) the development and transformation of “intra-Asian trade” or inter-regional trading links in Asia from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1950s, (2) a global-scale transfer of hegemony from the United Kingdom (the British Empire) to the USA in the middle of the twentieth century, and (3) the evolution of Japanese ideas and strategies about economic diplomacy. These three factors were closely intermingled to form a new concept and economic reality of integration in the Asia-Pacific region.

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From the Colombo Plan to Asia–Pacific Cooperation: Transfer of Hegemony and Japanese Plans for “Open Regionalism”

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Shigeru Akita

摘要

This chapter tries to reveal the historical origins and features of regional integration in East Asia from a historical perspective, by focusing on a quite unique concept for mega-regional integration—“open regionalism”—with reference to several Japanese plans and national strategies in the postwar period. “Open regionalism” has been symbolized in the establishment of a new regional organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum from 1989 to the present. The regional unit and perception of the “Asia-Pacific” are a newly created framework that includes Northeast Asia (a narrower sense of “East Asia”), Southeast Asia, and Australasia, as well as the western coasts of the USA, Canada, and some Latin American countries (Mexico, Peru, and Chile). In this sense, the “Asia-Pacific” is a wider regional or analytical framework than “East Asia.” Nowadays, over 50% of global gross domestic product (GDP) is produced in this region and the scale of the “Asia-Pacific economy” is bigger than that of the trans-Atlantic economy. In order to clearly understand the historical origins and the evolution of the Asia-Pacific economy and the Asia-Pacific region, we need to analyze the following three factors: (1) the development and transformation of “intra-Asian trade” or inter-regional trading links in Asia from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1950s, (2) a global-scale transfer of hegemony from the United Kingdom (the British Empire) to the USA in the middle of the twentieth century, and (3) the evolution of Japanese ideas and strategies about economic diplomacy. These three factors were closely intermingled to form a new concept and economic reality of integration in the Asia-Pacific region.