The Asia Pacific region, and especially East Asia, has experienced rapid economic integration without the ‘hard politics' of legally binding economic and political treaties, unlike Europe where integration has been institution‐led. The ‘soft politics' and market‐led integration in East...

Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) into China is analysed using an FDI model that accounts for different modes of FDI as well as third country effects and adds to existing literature by incorporating a new measurement of political distance. Political closeness between countries is shown to...