East Asia must lead the way on regional economic integration
The US alliance framework remains the bedrock of Australian, Japanese and regional security and stability. But it is through economic engagement that the region needs to entrench US interests in rule-making in Asia.
The economic architecture in East Asia and across the Pacific is rich and overlapping and has been built up over decades. Habits of co-operation and consensus building have been entrenched across the region, but they are now challenged by geopolitical distrust and US-Chinese strategic competition.
At the core of regional architecture is ASEAN. The new Australian government has refocused on the intersection of our interests with those of ASEAN. But the “ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific”, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and other South-East Asian initiatives are not yet integrated in a way that helps manage the broader fractures in global politics and governance.
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Shiro Armstrong is a professor and director of the Australia–Japan Research Centre at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.
