Corey Wallace
Teaching Fellow, Political Studies, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Youth delegate GM XIX 2010

Keen observers of Asia-Pacific regional integration will not have missed the development of an interesting dynamic in recent years - that of geopolitical competition driving the economic liberalization agenda. The politicization of economic relations and interconnections is of course nothing new. The opening of the American market after World War II to Germany and Japan was a critical part of early US Cold War strategy, as was encouraging Japan to limit its trading relationship with the People’s Republic of China and other Communist governments in Asia. The Soviet Union attempted to forge its own economic bloc through Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) at the same time. This was the logic of the Cold War: superpower competition and containment. Geopolitical competition, far from dividing the Pacific, is now having the opposite effect in the post-Cold War era however. While geopolitical considerations have never truly been out of the picture, and indeed the formation of APEC itself was propelled by (often differing) political as well as economic motivations, the last one to two years has seen geopolitical considerations playing a much more explicit role in the decisions that economies have taken regarding the joining of and commitment to various trade pacts and economic frameworks. Read more…

Plenary: Asia Pacific Regional Outlook and Concurrent Session: Enabling 21st Century Services in the Asia Pacific

Prepared by Youth delegates Angela Zhang Yiou (HK), Muhan Cheng (CT) and Jihye Seon(KO), 29September2011

The First Plenary session was moderated by Mr. Zou Mingrong. The first speaker Roberto Cardarelli delivered the Overview and Forecast of the IMF on global economy. During his speech, Mr. Roberto highlighted that slower growth was expected around the world. However, Asia will still exhibit relatively good performance with strong domestic demand. He also mentioned “Two Channels”: trade channel and financial channel. Mr. Roberto concluded that Asia still would have solid growth but monetary tightening and economic rebalancing are required. Read more…