Even a year or two ago, observers could have been relatively sanguine about the boom of interest in free trade agreements (FTAs). Progress was much slower than people originally expected, and negotiations seemed to drag on without agreement being reached. That situation has now changed. The...

This paper uses the global trade analysis project (GTAP) model to simulate the effect of APEC trade liberalisation on Sino-Australian bilateral trade. By comparing the development of Sino-Australian bilateral trade in the short run and the long run, the analysis depicts a whole set of bilateral...

As globalisation accelerates the international movement of organisms that are capable of carrying infectious diseases, it is becoming clear that global infectious disease management is an issue that demands concerted international action in order to be managed effectively. Health security has,...

This paper examines the political dynamics surrounding the Japanese government’s initial proposal for the creation of an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) in 1997 and the arrangements that have emerged in its place. Specifically, the paper delves into why Japan attempted to embark on regional...

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ushered in a new era in Japan’s international trade policy in January 2002 when he and his Singaporean counterpart, Goh Chok Tong, signed the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement (JSEPA), the first bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed...

The East Asian economies continue to have a major interest in the global liberalisation of trade in industrial products. This interest is even more pronounced in the context of the deepening of the supply chain linkages in East Asia, a process that is associated in part with restructuring in...

The accession of both China and Taiwan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) had important implications for relations across the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan’s position in the regional economy although it did not fundamentally change trade policies by either side towards the other. Accession...