Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Integration: Developments and Challenges

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed in 1967 for geopolitical reasons, but faced with the competitive threat from the North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Single Market, it embarked in 1992 on the ASEAN Free Trade Area in goods, followed by liberalization of services trade and investment flows. A subsequent competitive threat from the rise of China and India led to the ASEAN Economic Community in 2003, targeted at creating a single market and production base and a competitive region with equitable economic development and integrated with the global economy. The ASEAN Economic Community is not quite a common market as it allows for only freer flows of capital and free flows of skilled labor. ASEAN's economic diversity led to difficulties with implementation and the need to narrow the development gap. ASEAN's dependence on global markets and investors led to the emphasis on open regionalism, support of the World Trade Organization, and free trade agreements with its major trade and investment partners.     

The Economic Rise of China: Challenges and Opportunities for ASEAN

This paper looks at the economic rise of China and its impacts and implications for the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. The issues of complementarities and competitiveness of ASEAN and China in trade and investment and the opportunities and challenges arising from China's emergence and the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area are discussed. The message from China's emergence is clear and strong; it is that size does matter. To increase ASEAN competitiveness, the paper highlights the need for a deeper and more rapid economic integration of ASEAN in order to exploit scale economies. The important role of Japan in this process is highlighted. Finally the issue of ASEAN economic diversity is discussed. It is suggested that while ASEAN is fairly diverse, this should not be a critical stumbling block to a more rapid economic integration of ASEAN.     

A study of virtual land trade between China and ASEAN based on material flow analysis model

In this paper,based on the material flux analysis model（MFA） and its corresponding theories and algorithms of ＂virtual land＂ virtual land contents of five primary agricultural products are calculated and＂Virtual land trade＂hidden in those imported and exported products are also obtained through analyzing the primary agricultural product trade between China and ASEAN. In the process of calculationl following the thought of Changing agricultural products to ＂Virtual land trade＂land content, trade condition and spatiai distribution of agricultural products Were integratedly considered. indicate that China exported 73;057 km^2 of virtual land area to ASEAN by tea, vegetables; maize and grain, ASEAN exported： 57.332 km^2 to China by natural rubber from 2002 to 2005. It obvious; that china has lost 15,725 km^2 arable land through agricultural product trade, Additionally, in order to process： of calculation Virtual land trade, Thailand taker as an example to analyze its international trade of rice and Wheat from 1991 to 2005 and Calculate their ＂Virtual land trade＂ 2001 through 2005. According to and calculation, it is not difficult to conclude that ＂Virtual land trade＂ very important and could be used for China to guide agricultural export or import Structure and maintain Sustainable use of land resources.     

基于消费风险分担模型的中国——东盟金融合作程度的实证分析

自中国-东盟自由贸易区建成以来,中国与东盟的经贸联系日益加强,金融合作也取得了实质性的进展。本文运用衡量金融合作程度的主要方法——消费风险分担模型,对中国与东盟国家1999年-2010年的相关数据进行实证分析,得出中国与东盟金融合作程度较低,尤其是资本市场一体化程度尚处于初级阶段的结论,并对其成因进行解析,以期能够为进一步加强彼此合作提供参考。     

中国-东盟农产品贸易持续逆差研究

本文阐述了中国对东盟农产品贸易现状,从不同角度对中国对东盟农产品贸易持续逆差现象及其原因进行了分析,并发现中国对东盟农产品贸易逆差呈总体扩大趋势。得出如下结论:首先,中国-东盟农产品贸易逆差总体呈上升趋势;其次,中国对东盟主要农产品贸易逆差国为马来西亚、印度尼西亚和泰国;再者,主要出口农产品形成的贸易逆差是构成中国对东盟农产品贸易逆差的主要原因之一;最后,中国农产品比较优势下降,东盟主要农产品贸易逆差国的农产品的比较优势较为明显也是引起贸易逆差的原因之一。     

中国-东盟高技术行业垂直产业内贸易水平及特征研究

作者通过对中国-东盟的贸易结构及模式的研究,发现中国-东盟之间的贸易模式并不符合发展中国家的一般模式.2005年中国-东盟在HS1996,85类产品的垂直产业内贸易水平高达65%,这与垂直产业内贸易的理论也是不一致的.上述现象是跨国公司在全球范围内进行分工的结果.     

东盟区域经济一体化 ——基于边境效应的实证分析

本文通过计算边境效应来测定自由贸易区与其他国家（地区）的贸易程度。通过2000-2009年这10年的面板数据，在理论上验证了以下结论：东盟区域内部各国之间的贸易壁垒和边境效应普遍降低；东盟作为一个整体对于世界其他主要贸易国家的边境效应却在不断提升，这反映出东盟的一体化进程在不断提高。此外，在本文的研究中还发现另外一个值得关注的情况：与其他自由贸易区的国家同质化结构不同，东盟区域内既有发展程度较高的国家，也有依然被联合国定义为贫穷、欠发达的国家，这样的国家结构必然会造成贸易层面上的分化，折射出东盟在内部融合的过程中出现的一些不协调和分化     

Does the quality of political institutions affect intra-industry trade within trade blocs? The ASEAN perspective

There has been a renewed resolve for deeper integration and cooperation within ASEAN. Intra-industry trade (IIT) is often viewed as a way of achieving economic as well as political integration. This article tests for the effect that political regime and governance may have on the intensity of IIT. We particularly examine if quality of political institutions which includes corruption and democracy indices as well as economic factors comprising corporate tax rate, regional FDI flow, flexibility of exchange rate regime, size of the market, economic distance affect the intensity of horizontal and vertical IIT. The study finds that control of corruption and good governance both increase the vertical IIT but not the horizontal IIT. The study further finds that intra-economy FDI flow, stable exchange rate regime, market size and proximity positively affect IIT within the trade bloc. However the negative effect of corporate tax rate suggests that if countries were to coordinate their tax policies, they could avoid harmful tax competition and promote IIT across their borders. The findings regarding the effect those economic and political factors have on the intensity of IIT certainly warrants the attention of policy makers and researchers alike.     

Does the reduction of regional trade policy uncertainty increase Chinese enterprises' outward foreign direct investment? Evidence from the China−ASEAN Free Trade Area

Regional trade policy uncertainty is an important factor affecting enterprises' outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). This paper uses the China?ASEAN Free Trade Area as the research object. The research uses the “China Industrial Firm Database” from 2001 to 2013 and the “List of Chinese Overseas Investment Enterprises (Institutions)” to match micro‐enterprise data. Using the difference‐in‐difference (DID) approach to construct quasi‐natural experiments, we study the impact of the reduction in regional trade policy uncertainty on Chinese enterprises' OFID. The results show that the free trade agreement strategy implemented by China has reduced the regional trade policy uncertainty, which has had a significant positive impact on Chinese enterprises' OFDI. The establishment of the China?ASEAN Free Trade Area has significantly increased Chinese enterprises' OFID in ASEAN countries. The study further finds that enterprises of different ownership types, in different regions and of different factor intensities display heterogeneous effects in this process. The empirical results of the paper provide new ideas for promoting OFDI from the standpoint of reducing regional trade policy uncertainty, and also provide a new perspective for explaining the increase in foreign investment in China in recent years.     

The impact of regional trade policy uncertainty on the productivity of Chinese export enterprises: The case of China–ASEAN Free Trade Area

Reduction of regional trade policy uncertainty is critical for promoting Chinese export enterprise productivity and will help the economy enter the high-quality development stage. We use the case of the China–ASEAN Free Trade Area to empirically tests the impact of the reduction of regional trade policy uncertainty on the productivity of Chinese export enterprises. We apply the difference-in-difference method to micro-enterprise level data from the “China industrial enterprise database” and “China Customs enterprise database” for 2007–2013. Our analysis and results show that establishing the China–ASEAN Free Trade Area has dramatically reduced regional trade policy uncertainty, significantly impacting the productivity of Chinese enterprises exporting to ASEAN. The results also show that enterprises with different ownership types, regions, factor density, and pollution emission intensity show significant heterogeneity in the level of productivity improvement. Applying a mechanism test, we found that the promotion of productivity from a reduction of regional trade policy uncertainty is achieved through the learning effect, the competition effect, and improving the trade environment of imported intermediate goods. The learning effect mechanism has the highest contribution, accounting for 39.01% of the net effect. The empirical results provide novel insight into promoting the productivity of Chinese enterprises exporting to ASEAN from the perspective of reducing regional trade policy uncertainty.     

International and Regional Cooperation: Asia's Role and Responsibilities

Asia has emerged from the global financial crisis as an important stabilizing force and an engine of global economic growth. The establishment of the G-20 gives Asian economies the global forum that they need to both represent their interests in global governance and deliver on responsibilities concomitant with their growing weight in the global economy. The region has a host of cooperation arrangements in APEC, ASEAN+3, and EAS (East Asian Summit), all with ASEAN as the fulcrum. They are huge assets, but they need to be repositioned to relate effectively to the G-20 process and other global arrangements. They also need to comprehend the politics of the changing structure of regional power. This paper discusses the challenges that Asia faces in aligning regional and global objectives in financial, trade, and other areas of cooperation, such as climate change and foreign investment. It argues that Asia is now a critical player in the global system and has a central contribution to make in strengthening global governance and international policy outcomes. The paper sets out ways to fill gaps in regional cooperation and link the agenda for regional cooperation more effectively to Asia's new role globally. This is essential to sustain Asia's superior growth performance, correct imbalances, and support the global economic system.     

云南开拓东盟中医药市场的知识产权问题及对策研究

云南是中国—东盟自由贸易的"桥头堡",有着开拓东盟中医药市场的知识产权基础和政策支持。但目前的知识产权制度尚无法完全保护在东盟市场的云南传统医药遗传资源,且云南的中医药企业在本国和东盟诸国申请的专利数量也不容乐观,云南要加强对传统医药遗传资源的生物多样性保护、改变传统的保密保护方式,鼓励医药企业在本国和东盟申请专利,对道地中药材实行地理标志保护并建立和完善原产地规则,加强与东盟各国在中医药知识产权领域的合作。     

Do oil price changes really matter to the trade balance? Evidence from Korea-ASEAN commodity trade data

The contribution of this article is to assess the effect of oil prices have on the trade balance in the framework of bilateral commodity trade data between Korea and each of the four ASEAN member countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. To examine this subject thoroughly, we first assume the effects of oil price changes to be symmetric and apply the linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method to the subject. We find that the price of crude oil indeed has an important role in affecting Korea's trade balance with those four ASEAN economies in both the long- and short-run. We then separate oil price hikes from oil price plunges and implement the nonlinear ARDL method to reveal that there is evidence that changes in oil prices appear to have asymmetric effects on the trade balance for certain products in the long- and short-run.     

Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization: Origin,Development, and Outlook

This paper discusses the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) – its origin, development, and outlook. The experiences of the 1997–1998 East Asian financial crisis that led to the creation of the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI), the evolution of the Chiang Mai Initiative to become the CMIM, and the setting up of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) to support CMIM are reviewed. Proposals are made on how to make the liquidity support role of the CMIM more effective. These involve changing the International Monetary Fund link from that based on using more than a certain percentage of a country's CMIM quota to that based on the number of times the 90‐day CMIM swap needs to be rolled over, supplementing the size of the CMIM through linked bilateral swaps, allowing “contributing partners” beyond the current CMIM members, and developing the effectiveness of AMRO and its evolution into an East Asian monetary organization.     

东亚区域经济合作新模式:中国-东盟自由贸易区

2001年11月在第五次东盟与中国领导人（10＋1）会议上，中国与东盟达成一致，确立了10年内建成中国－东盟自由贸易区的目标。这对双方关系的长远发展和东亚地区的繁荣稳定具有深远意义。它是中国继加入世界贸易组织后又一件对外经贸方面的重大事件。本就这一东亚区域合作的新模式产生的国际背景，以及实现目标所面临的困难进行分析。     

Trade creating free trade areas and the undermining of multilateralism

This paper indicates that the consequences of regional trade agreements for the world trade system may be deceiving—an arrangement's apparent virtue may constitute the source of its drawback. In a model where governments have political, as well as economic, motivations, I show that a free trade area induces its members to reduce protection against the non-members, and to do so sufficiently deeply to generate overall trade creation. Trade creation amplifies the excluded countries’ access to the integrating markets, but also reduces their extra gains from multilateral liberalization. Thus, trade creation can reverse the support of the excluded countries to liberalization on a multilateral basis. This is more likely to happen when governments outside the free trade area are more responsive to special interests.     

Economic and environmental impacts of trade liberalization: The case of Indonesia

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the environmental impacts of trade liberalization. This paper provides further discourse in this area with a study on Indonesia and its trade agreements with Japan (IJEPA) and ASEAN (AFTA). A static global CGE model, known as the Global Trade Analysis Project, was used to project the Indonesian economy to the year 2022, with and without tariff reforms agreed under the agreements. Environmental impacts are assessed using different pollution indicators—air, water and waste. The study suggests that Indonesia would grow rapidly over the period considered with a large deterioration in its environment. Following these, however, the agreements only have a marginal positive impact on Indonesia's output but with a noticeable increase in trade flows and signs of trade diversion. Overall AFTA has a greater impact on the Indonesian economy compared to IJEPA. Similarly, the impact of trade liberalization on the environment is marginal. On the whole, tariff reform is inducing air pollution and reducing water pollution. In conclusion, the study suggests that Indonesia's participation in the AFTA and IJEPA agreements is not likely to bring drastic changes to her economic and environmental performance.     

ASEAN's New Frontiers: Integrating the Newest Members into the ASEAN Economic Community

Since Vietnam, Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar, and Cambodia joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the 1990s, concerns have been raised over a Development Divide. The real division is between ASEAN members participating in the integrated East Asian economy and those that do not. The older ASEAN members have become more efficient traders, and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam must reform faster if they are to catch up. Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar are not meeting the challenge, but Vietnam may be leaving the laggards, and the Philippines is lagging the leaders. The challenge is how to avoid a two‐tier ASEAN with fast‐growing modern economies coexisting besides inward‐looking poor countries.     

减免东盟农产品进口关税对中国宏观经济和产业影响的可计算一般均衡分析

Chingem模型是一个中国静态CGE模型.在Chingem模型的基础上,按照中国与东盟达成的"早期收获方案",模拟2006年减免东盟原六国农产品进口关税对中国宏观经济和产业的短期影响.研究表明,减免东盟六国农产品进口关税有利于我国经济增长,其中经济增长的动力来源于就业水平的提高;国内价格水平会下降,如CPI下降了0.11%;出口增长高于进口增长,贸易顺差有增加的趋势;促进了制造业的发展,其中纺织部门受益最大;羊毛部门受纺织业的拉动产出增长,而其它的农业和服务业部门影响轻微.     

中国和东盟人民币贸易结算的经济学分析

本文构建了一个三经济体的贸易模型,从贸易损失的角度分析中国和东盟地区采用人民币进行贸易结算对中国和东盟,以及对世界其他主要经济体的福利影响。分析结果表明:中国和东盟地区结成货币联盟对世界主要经济体都将产生正面效应;由于东盟地区整体技术稍低,中国和东盟结成货币联盟将使东盟贸易损失下降更多和产出增加更大,从而提升东盟地区的整体福利;中国和东盟进行人民币结算对各经济体而言,属于帕累托改进,符合激励相容原则,具备理论上的可行性;中国和东盟进行货币联盟的优势在于两大经济体之间的地缘优势和生产技术类似。