The purpose of this paper is two-fold: First, to examine a) ongoing East Asian integration in terms of intra-regional financial cooperation, b) the proliferation of intra-regional free trade agreements with extra-regional economies and cross-border foreign direct investment flows c) and...

Although East Asia is regarded as one of the three major economic pillars in the world, it still has the lowest level of economic cooperation and integration compared to the EU and NAFTA. The Asian financial crisis in 1997/98 triggered a sense of 'East Asian regional identity.' A 'functional...