In the early years of the twenty-first century proposals reflecting two distinct “visions” of Asia-Pacific integration were being advanced for consolidating the regional trade architecture through the establishment of region-wide trade agreements. The rise of East Asian regionalism was...

Der Asiatisch-Pazifischen Wirtschaftskooperation (APEC) gehört der überwiegende Teil der Pazifikanrainerstaaten an. Darunter die ostasiatischen Tigerländer, Japan, die ASEAN-Staaten, die NAFTA-Staaten, Australien und Neuseeland. Die Teilnehmer der APEC haben sich zum Ziel gesetzt, bis zum...

The authors show in this paper that increasing the transparency of the trading environment can be an important complement to traditional liberalization of tariff and non-tariff barriers. Our definition of transparency is grounded in a transaction cost analysis. The authors focus on two...

The authors show in this paper that increasing the transparency of the trading environment can be an important complement to traditional liberalization of tariff and non-tariff barriers. Our definition of transparency is grounded in a transaction cost analysis. The authors focus on two...

FTAAP became an official agenda of APEC. APEC needs a credible trade agenda to restore its identity and FTAAP would ultimately achieve it. However, APEC has to abandon its working mechanism in order to form a WTO-consistent regional agreement and an attempt to establish FTAAP may jeopardize...

This paper evaluates whether the proposed FTAAP is a desirable policy option for APEC member economies and the world economy. More specifically, this paper qualitatively investigates whether the FTAAP satisfies conditions for a trade bloc to generate positive and sufficient net trade creation...

The global trading system has underpinned huge growth in trade and the integration of economies that have signed on to it, whether they are political allies or not — none more so than in the Asia-Pacific region. It has prevented political disputes between Japan and China adversely affecting...

The paper observes that the fragmented international investment law regime is moving toward harmonisation. In the near future, five major agreements could govern a very substantial share of global investment: a United States-China bilateral investment treaty (BIT), a European Union-China BIT,...