This is the season for regional-integration initiatives in Asia. There is talk of region-wide FTAs, and there are east-Asian initiatives on financial and monetary cooperation. But grand visions for Asian regional blocs are not achievable. Regional economic integration is most developed in east...

This paper weighs the case for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and Taiwan. It focuses on the role Taiwan has to play in the EU's economic and geopolitical strategy in Asia. Taiwan is one of the key players in the world's Information and Communication Technology (ICT)...

This paper interprets China's overall trade policy since its accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) almost a decade ago, and more recently in the wake of the global economic crisis. The first section briefly summarises policy trends leading up to WTO accession, as well as recent trade...

The global economic crisis has sparked short-term divergence of economic performance between the West and emerging markets, and thereby accelerated the longer-run convergence of the latter on the former. This Shift to the East is also even more evident in international trade and FDI than it is...

India, like China, had a "good" crisis; both have spearheaded exuberant post-crisis recovery in emerging markets. A combination of stable government and roaring growth gives rise to predictions that India will hit annual growth rates of 10 per cent or more. This is India hype. Reforms have...

Trade policy in Asia is dangerously unbalanced. It rests on a shaky leg of discriminatory bilateral and regional FTAs. Its other WTO leg has gone to sleep: most Asian countries have neglected the WTO in favour of FTAs. Its regional-cooperation arm is limp: grand visions for regional economic...

The BRIICS - Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa - are the largest developing countries in their respective regions. A snapshot of their trade policies shows they have already liberalised trade and foreign direct investment extensively, and thereby plugged themselves into...

Trade policy in Asia has switched from non-discriminatory unilateral liberalisation, reinforced by GATT/ WTO commitments, to discriminatory FTAs. The paper surveys the FTA activity of the major regional players: China, India, the ASEAN countries, Japan and South Korea. It concludes that emerging...

In late 2006, Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, announced a new EU policy on free trade agreements (FTAs). This is contained in the European Commission's Global Europe Communication. The core of this new chapter in EU trade policy is planned FTAs with three Asian partners, India, ASEAN...