Group 4 November 13, 2023

BEED 1B GE3 CONTEMPORARY WORLD Tuesday 8:00 – 11:00 AM

TOPIC: ASIAN REGIONALISM

I. Introduction
II. Regionalism
III. Regional Trading Agreements
1. The Treaty of Rome (1957)
2. The Stockhold Convention (1959)
3. The Montevideo Treaty (1960)
4. The Yaounde Convention (1963)
IV. Spectrum of regional trading agreements
1. The Three Shallow Integration Stages
A. Preferential Trade Agreements Partial preference to trading partners
B. Free Trade Area Elimination of all tariffs, Qrs and NTBs
C. Customs Union Common level of trade barriers vis-a-vis non-members

V. Texture and Diversity

1. Purpose of RTA

VI. Roles of TNCs in RTA Expansion

1. Importance of FDI

VII. Trade and Investment Patterns in the Asia Pacific Region

1. Define trade
2. Example of Trade
3. Define Investment
4. Example of Investment
5. Horizontal and Vertical

VIII. Spreading Production Networks

1. Spreading Production Networks
2. Asia Pacific Region

IX. Regionalism in Asia Pacific

1. Waves of regionalism
2. Members of pecc
3. Growth triangle
 4. Chronological order

X. ANZ-CER
1. What is anz-cer
2. Nafta
3. Anzcerta
XI. AFTA
1. Asean: Overview
2. Asean: Founding
3. Expansion of Asean
4. Asean: External Links
5. Northest Asia
6. Goal of AFTA
7. Benefits from AFTA

XII. APEC
1. Formation and Members of APEC
2. Three Pillars of APEC
3. Objective of APEC

XIII. NAFTA+3 ASEAN+3

1. AFTA
2. ASEAN

XIV. Smaller Recent Initiative

1. Bilateral and Plurilateral Free Trade Agreement
2. Multilateral Trading System and Negotiated Preperential Trade Agreement
3. Five Reason of the 21st Century of Bilateral Trade Agreement and Financial
Initiatives.

Introduction
Asian regionalism refers to the collaborative efforts and initiatives aimed at promoting
economic, political, and social integration among countries in the Asian continent. This regional
cooperation can take various forms, including trade agreements, diplomatic partnerships, and
other forms of collaboration. The goal is to foster closer ties, enhance economic growth, and
address common challenges within the region.
Learning Objectives:

At the end of the course the students should be able to:

 define regionalism
 understand regionalism in the Asia and the Asia-Pacific
 articulate a stance of regional trading agreements and be able to enumerate the
different organizations in the region and their functions.
Regionalism
Regionalism is a vogue and it is here to stay, however, in the ultimate analysis, it is no
substitute for globalism, Given that the global economy is not governed by free market rules,
regionalism and globalism can function in a complementary manner. Regionalism is not open
for any global output and economic welfare. Open regionalism was pioneered by Australia and
New Zealand and is being practiced by APEC forum and the Asia Pacific region caught on
regionalism late. In it's institutional form Asia policy makers ignored the concept for a long
time. Economic growth in Asia has a certain characteristics pattern to it. Over the preceding half
century the high performing Asian Economics adopted outward oriented strategies. Promoting
trade and foreign investment. After this led to the expansion of intra-regional trade and
investment.
Regional Trading Agreements
The current march of regionalism is certainly not the first ever in history, Historically, regional
trading agreements can be traced back to sixteenth century when proposals for a union
between England and Scotland were made in 1547-48. During the contemporary period.

The Five Regional Trading agreements:

1.The Treaty of Rome The treaty of Rome set up the European Economic Community (ECC),
bringing together Belgium, Germany, France, Italy , Luxembourg and the Netherlands to work
together towards integration and economic growth through trade. It established a common
market based on the free movement of goods, people, services, and capital.
The Stockholm Convention is a global treaty that aims to protect human health and the
environment from the effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
The Montevideo Treaty 1960 established the Latin American Free Trade association
(LAFTA).1979 Treaty of Montevideo (Act of Montevideo) signed between Chile and Argentina to
allow the Papal mediation in the beagle conflict.
As decolonisation accelerated in Africa from 1960 onwards. European powers sought to
preserve their economic ties with almost all associated states. In 1963 the Yaoundié Convention
was signed with 18 newly independent African countries, together known as the Associated
African States and Madagascar (AASM). Asian regionalism refers to the collaborative efforts and
initiatives aimed at promoting economic, political, and social integration among countries in the
Asian continent. This regional cooperation can take various forms, including trade agreements,
diplomatic partnerships, and other forms of collaboration. The goal is to foster closer ties,
enhance economic growth, and address common challenges within the region.
The Spectrum of Formal Regional Trading Arrangements

The Three Shallow Integration Stages:

1.Preferential Trade Agreements Partial preference to trading partners -
Preferential trading areas are the first tier agreement. In this agreement, trading partners grant
partial non-discriminatory tariff reductions to each other. They leave their different tariffs, non-
tariff barriers (NTB) and quantitative restrictions (QRs) unchanged in a free trade area.

2.Free Trade Area Elimination of all tariffs, Qrs and NTBs-

The second tier, members of a preferential trade area climate all tariffs and non-tariff barriers
(NTBs) among themselves, but each member can set it's tariff rates on imports from non-
members (like Association of South East Asian Nations and North America Free Trade Area).

3.Customs Union Common level of trade barriers vis-a-vis non-members-

The third tier is a customs union in which members go beyond removing tariff barriers among
themselves and set a common level of trade barriers vis-a-vis non-members (like the EU).

TWO DEEP INTEGRATION STAGES

4.Common Market Free movements of factors of production-

The fourth tier is a common market and is considered the first deep integration stage. This
stage attempts to harmonize some institutional arrangements and commercial and financial
laws. Beyond free exchange of goods and services, a common market entails free movement of
factors of production.

5.Economic Union Integrating National economic policies and a common currency-

The fifth stage is economic union and goes a step ahead of the free movement of goods service
and factors. An economic union, the last tier, involves integrating national economic policies,
including taxes and a common currency.

TEXTURE AND DIVERSITY

Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) are legal frameworks created by countries to establish an
extensive economic relationship with the intention of indefinite duration and future economic
evolution. These RTAs are dynamic, as countries' economic structures constantly change and
their linkages with their RTA members. The expansion path of an RTA is linear, ranging from
freeing trade in goods and services to capital and labor movements, non-tariffs, taxes, and
integration of economic and financial policies. RTAs can take various forms, such as open or
closed, driven by economic or political forces, promoted by coercive or benign forces, or
operated consensual or hierarchical.
Differences between RTAs reflect the objectives of the countries forming them. Members of an
RTA can differ in important economic features, such as economic interdependence among
member economies.
The EU's member economies have high trade as a percentage of GDP, while APEC and NAFTA
regions have less interdependence. Extra-regional trade is more widespread in these regions.
The balance of symmetry between regional economies affects economic relationships, with
asymmetrical relationships occurring in both regions.
Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) have a political dimension, often aiming to resolve political
and security problems. For example, France's early EEC efforts focused on economic integration
to reduce military aggression. Economic integration can also drive political integration,
stimulating deeper trade and investment ties. The Asia-Pacific region exemplifies this, with
export-oriented Asian economies expanding trade and investment without a political agenda.
APEC and other regional political dialogues capitalize on this.
RTAS between developed and industrial countries vary in content and form, with differences in
quantitative restrictions, rules of origin, external tariffs, timetables for liberalization, trade in
services, labor and capital movement, industrialization promotion, trade objectives, and
payments arrangements. They adopt variant dispute settlement procedures, complex sectoral
arrangements in areas like textiles, apparel, and autos, and provisions not found in NAFTA.
Contemporary Regional Trade Agreements (RTAS) often involve small countries partnering with
large industrial economies, undergoing significant economic reforms and restructuring. Trade
liberalization is primarily confined to concessions given by smaller partners, not larger
economies, who generally have fairly liberalized economies. Small countries typically gain only
a small tariff advantage.

Role of TNCs in RTAs expansion

Large corporations and transnational corporations (TNCs) in large Regional Trade Agreements
(RTAs) like the EU, NAFTA, and APEC embrace regional integration and play a proactive role in
expansion. They establish production linkages in neighboring countries, allowing them to
exploit scale economies and increase competitiveness. RTAs also create and expand FDI
opportunities, supported by business associations.
Global competition has intensified, making market access a strategic consideration. Rapid
technological advancements have shorten product life cycles, making market access crucial for
spreading innovation costs. RTAs facilitate local presence and enable large corporations and
TNCs to follow market trends and acquire smaller innovative firms, making them more
competitive.
Developing economies are increasingly liberalizing and reforming to attract foreign direct
investment (FDI) and export-led growth. TNCs are increasingly attractive due to their
knowledge of new technologies, management techniques, and market access. Privatization
reduces state role, attracting TNCs and foreign investors. As international competition
decreases, developing economies prioritize regional integration and investment, ensuring
harmonization of standards.
Deeper regional integration can lead to unequal bargaining power between small and large
economies, with larger, more industrialized economies potentially extracting concessions in
trade and non-trade issues. Smaller economies may adjust their norms and standards to this
agenda, potentially adopting unsuitable policies. Hegemonic power may gain at the expense of
smaller partners.

TRADE AND INVESTMENT PATTERNS IN THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION

Trade played a significant role in Asia's rapid economic growth, with intra-regional trade
accounting for 51% of total trade. This growth led to structural transformation in newly
industrialized economies, ASEAN-4 economies, China, and South Asian economies. The
Heckscher-Ohlin theory explains this transformation, but Asian economies did not record high
or low trade in certain products or sectors.
The study reveals no distinctive Asian export path or route, with Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong
SAR, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand all showing similar export patterns.
Indonesia, however, was a laggard due to its oil exports. Noland (1997) found that factor
endowment models cannot adequately explain the trade patterns of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.
Japan's growth in exports was less than factor accumulation could explain. Asian dummies
variables were positive for gross exports but insignificant for net export, suggesting unusual
trade orientation in these economies.
Asian economies have experienced significant growth in recent years, with Japan being the
most successful in export-led growth. The ASEAN-4 and China followed, with China becoming
the largest developing-country exporter. Market forces and a mix of bilateral trade ties, neo-
mercantilism policy stance, and a unified multilateral trade regime drove trade patterns in the
region. By the late 1990s, most successful Asian trading economies were trading as much as
50% with other regional economies, except for Indonesia. Japan, the dominant regional trade
partner, has expanded its exports in the region.
Asia's market expansion is both vertical and horizontal, with emerging market Asian economies
fitting into complex trade hierarchies. Japan, Taiwan, and Korea have provided significant FDI to
China and Southeast Asia, increasing their commitments. Firms in these countries build
subsidiaries or partnerships, exporting intermediate goods to their home countries. This trade
expansion is supported by complex commercial alliances, with China's trade dependence on
Hong Kong declining since 1990. Hong Kong remains the largest trade partner and important
entrepot for China.

SPREADING PRODUCTION NETWORKS

The Asia-Pacific economies have been transitioning towards becoming natural trading partners
for several decades, driven by intra-trade and investment. Changes in currency value
configuration and economic complimentaries have bolstered this trend. Production networks
have become a significant force driving economic integration and globalization in East and
Southeast Asia. The integration of Malaysia, Thailand, and the Pearl River basin of China has
significantly changed the spatial organization of the Asian economy since the Plaza Accord. The
product life cycle theory explains regionalization of production, treating individual products as
"disembodied" from larger industrial structures. The electronics industry is a prime example of
how production linkages in Asia are more complex than trade and investment data describe.
In the late 1980s, China's production networks expanded to Guangdong and Fujian, creating a
borderless economy with different comparative advantages. This subregion now includes Hong
Kong SAR, Macao, Taiwan, and Southern provinces. As Taiwan transitioned to high technology
and Hong Kong SAR became a services economy, China was well-positioned to receive the
"sunset" industries, accelerating industrialization and allowing China to move up the industrial
value chain faster.
In 2001, Taiwan's government considered removing investment value ceilings on projects for
mainland China, resulting in increased mutual industrial dependence between the two
economies. Malaysia and Thailand also integrated with China through trade and investment
links. This sub-region of Asia demonstrates dynamism and is expected to expand in size and
cooperation. Over the past 25 years, Asia has experienced two virtuous circles of economic
growth: domestic and regional. Domestic growth is driven by openness to trade and
investment, while regional growth is facilitated by increased networking among rival firms,
leading to closer economic ties and regionalization.

REGIONALISM IN ASIA-PACIFIC
The first wave of regional jam almost passed the region.
The contemporary genesis of regionalism; unfold after the signing of the treaty of Rome.

Kiyoshi Kojima (1968)

-credited the concept of the first ever regional organization for Asia. The (OPTAD) organization
for pacific trade and development.
- he also introduced the concept of a pacific free trade area (PAFTA). The annual conference
was organized on Asia pacific trade and developmental issues where it begins first on Tokyo
(1968).

The pacific economic co- operation conference (PECC). In September year 1980, was the
expression of the next wave for regionalism. The product of canbera seminar on the pacific
community.
The PECC membership consisted of, (AUSTRALIA, BRUNEI DARUSSALAM, CANADA, CHILE,
CHINA, HONG KONG, INDONESIA, JAPAN, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, NEW ZEALAND, PERU,
PHILIPPINES, RUSSIA, SINGAPORE, TAIWAN, THAILAND, US, and the PACIFIC ISLAND NATIONS).

Other than regional cooperation and integration, there are several areas in Asia were
subregional cooperation. The grouping was given various names but the “GROWTH TRIANGLE”
is the popularly accepted generic term.
 the Southern hina growth triangle
 the juhor- Singapore-riau growth triangle
 the tumben river area in northeast Russia
 the East Asian growth area
There are two smaller growth triangles;
 Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore growth triangle
 Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore growth triangle\
Growtha triangles
-to be effective, they require close cooperation between the private and public sector of each
countries included.
Private sector- provides the capital for investment
Public sector- provides Infrastructure development, fiscal incentives, and a favorable
administrative framework.
Interest in forming growth triangle was heightened during 1990s.

In chronological order, they include

- AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND CLOSER ECONOMIC (ANZ-CER) AGREEMENT
-ASEAN FREE TRADE AREA (AFTA), APEC, AND SAARC PREFERENTIAL TREADE AREA (SAFTA)
ANZ-CER (AUSTRALIA- NEW ZEALAND CLOSER ECONOMIC RELATION)

-AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND were known for their long standing deep roots protection
policies.
-In 1965 they agreed on the establishment of a free trade area
- In 1970s they had the highest average level of protection.
- Economies cited them as examples of slow- growing with high levels of protection and inability
to adjust changes.

The CER Agreement is one of the most comprehensive bilateral free trade agreements in
existence. It covers substantially all trans-Tasman trade in goods.
The first trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand dates back to 1922, and it
essentially stated that each party would trade with the other.

A partial free trade treaty, the New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), entered
into force in 1966, leading to the removal of tariffs and quantitative restrictions on 80 per cent
of trans-Tasman trade by the late-1970s. Because NAFTA was not structured to address the
changing international economic environment and lacked an effective mechanism for removing
remaining restrictions, Australia and New Zealand agreed to develop a more open bilateral
trading system.
The Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (ANZCERTA) was signed
on 28 March 1983.
The objectives of ANZCERTA are to:
 strengthen the broader relationship between Australia and New Zealand;
 develop closer economic relations through a mutually beneficial expansion of free trade
between New Zealand and Australia;
 eliminate barriers to trade between Australia and New Zealand in a gradual and
progressive manner under an agreed timetable and with a minimum of disruption
 develop trade between New Zealand and Australia under conditions of fair competition.

Acording to :
Lloyd (1997) CER “most clean and most outwardly open af allah the RTAs approved under the
GATT.
FRANKEL (1997) as a highly significant statically

AFTA

The second RTA in the Asia-Pacific region was related to ASEAN countries. In August 1967,
ASEAN was established between five Southeast economics, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, As the earlier regional initiatives among developing
economics were not known for their successes, ASEAN restricted its scope to cooperation on
strategic and political. Its objectives were to promote peace, stability. It needs to be
emphasized that ASEAN was not born as a sub-regional economic organization. Brunie
Darussalam joined ASEAN in 1984. Strengthening trade and economic linkages did not occur to
ASEAN economics until 1978 when ASEAN put into force agreement on ASEAN PTA.
In January 1991, the ASEAN countries agreed to upgrade the PTA and establish an ASEAN Free
Trade Area (AFTA).
AFTA can indeed make a useful contribution to trade and welfare in the region. However, CEPT
has severe limitations.

At the time of the creation of ASEAN, most member economies had only embarked on their
industrialization programs and lacked the confidence to let their tariff barriers and NTBs down.
They have now developed a great deal of confidence, thanks to rapid outward-oriented
industrial development. Many member economies have succeeded in learning about global
trade regulations and negotiations. AFTA has begun addressing trade facilitation issues. An
ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality was established to work on
harmonization of standards, testing, and accreditation of laboratories, conformity assessment,
and technical information. A consultative Forum on FDI met in 1993, and there were plans to
hold macroeconomic consultations. However, the trade facilitation agenda was slow to get off
the ground. To make things worse, it was overtaken by that of the APEC forum. Disagreements
among members have persisted. During the October 2000 meeting of ASEAN. Malaysia scuttled
the timetable for lowering tariff barriers. There was a possibility of a chain reaction whereby
other members could decide to keep tariffs on favored local industries (AWSJ, 2000).

ASEAN: OVERVIEW
1. Association of Southeast Asia Nations
2. Ten members states: ~ Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam
3. Home of 600 million people
4. Collective GDP of US$ 2 trillion

ASEAN: FOUNDING (1967)

1. Five founding members:
~ Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines
 2. Bangkok Declaration of 1967:
- accelerate economic growth
- promote regional peace and stability
- contain the spread of communism

END OF COLD WAR

1. ASEAN FREE TRADE AREA
2. INITIATED AT ASEAN SUMMIT IN 1992
3. A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM OR REGIONAL TARIFF REDUCTION
4. THE PROGRAM LATER BROADENED AND ACCELERATED
5. REAFFIRMED DURING THE ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 1997-98

EXPANSION OF ASEAN
1. 1995: VIETNAM
2. 1997: LAOS
3. 1997: MYANMAR
4. 1999: CAMBODIA

ASEAN: EXTERNAL LINKS

1. A JOINT FORUM WITH JAPAN WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1977
2. A COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY WAS SIGNED IN 1980
3. “ASEAN + 3 “: REGULAR SERIES OF MEETINGS AT THE CABINET AND HEAD-OF-GOVERNMENT
LEVELS WITH JAPAN, CHINA, AND SOUTH KOREA 1997

ASEAN AND THE U.S.

1. INVESTMENT:
- U.S DIRECT INVESTMENT OF US$ 157 BILLION IN ASEAN
- NEARLY THREE TIMES MORE THAN IN CHINA
- TEN TIMES MORE THAN IN INDIA
2. TRADE:
- 4RD LARGEST EXPORT MARKET ($76 BILLION) FOR THE U.S.
- U.S IMPORTED $123 BILLION FROM ASEAN

NORTHEST ASIA
1. JAPAN. SOUTH KOREA, NORTH KOREA
2. MAINLAND CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN
3. MONGOLIA, RUSSIA
4. COMPARED WITH SOUTHEAST ASIA AND WEST EUROPE, NORTHEAST ASIA HAS LAGGED
BEHIND
- IN DEVELOPING MECHANISMS OR INSTITUTIONS
- OF COORDINATION, COOPERATION, OR INTEGRATION
5. ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THE IMMENSE ECONOMIC POTENTIALS IN THE REGION
- NATURAL RESOURCES
- HUMAN INFRASTRUCTURE

APEC (ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION)

APEC is an intergovernmental in the Asia forum of countries situated in the Asia Pacific Region.

FORMATION OF THE APEC

• THE APEC WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1989 WITH THE 12 MEMBERS STATES.

MEMBERS OF THE APEC

- APEC'S 21 MEMBER ECONOMIES ARE:
1. Australia 12. Papua New Guinea
2. Brunei Darussalam 13. People's Republic of China
3. Canada 14. Peru
4. Chile 15. Republic of Korea
5. Chinese Taipei 16. The Republic of the Philippines
6. Hong Kong, China 17. The Russian Federation
7. Indonesia 18. Singapore
8. Japan 19. Thailand
9. Malaysia 20. United States of America
10. Mexico 21. Vietnam
11. New Zealand
APEC works in three broad areas called APEC Three Pillars:
 Trade and Investment Liberalization
 Business Facilitation
 Economic and Technical Cooperations
Trade and Investment Liberalization - reduces tariffs and other barriers to trade and
investment.
Business Facilitation - reduces the cost of business transaction by improving access to trade
information and aligning business policy and strategies to facilitate growth, free and open
trade.
Economic and Technical Cooperation or ( ECOTECH ) - gives people the skills to participate in
the workforce.
THE OBJECTIVE OF APEC
- THE MAIN AIM OF APEC IS TO PROMOTE THE FREE TRADE THROUGHOUT THE ASIA-PACIFIC
REGION.

NAFTA+3.ASEAN+3
Grouping is the newest idea in regional integration in Asia. In 1998, this group held it's first
summit and two more in the years that followed. The membership includes the economies of
ASEAN , plus China , Japan , and (Republic of) Korea.
This solution supplied by the IMF and western governments to resolve the ASIAN crisis
disappointed Asian Governments. This group has started to hold regular meetings with their
finance monitors and has a "Vision Group" to guide their work.
This emphasis is blamed for the Asian crisis of 1997-1998 members of this group announced a
regional system of currency swaps in the Chiang Mai Declaration (1999) to help them deal with
Future Asian crises.
This institution of Bretton Woods expressed strong support for expanding financial cooperation
on the Chiang Mai initiative. They see it as a complement to the IMFs financial aid cooperate
restructuring (Kohler , 2001).
Japan has actively promoted the creation of a currency swap network to protect Asian
economies from speculative attacks (FT.2000). Although the Asian Monetary Fund (AMF)
proposal was flatly rejected in 1998, it started to evolve in the latter half of 2000. China
criticized Japan's original AMF proposal, backed the initiative formally in 2000. Hong Kong SAR
and the Philippines proposal an Asian Currency Unit (ACU) following the euro.
SMALLER RECENT INITIATIVE
As mentioned above, during the year 2000 there was a new fervor for bilateral and plurilateral
free trade agreements, Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, New Zealand,
Singapore and the United States rushed to sew up a web of bilateral free trade deals.

New Zealand was Singapore, the other two Asian economies that traditionally relied on the
multilateral trading system and negotiated preferential trade agreement.

On November 200017, the two economies signed a bilateral agreement establishing a "Closer
Economic Partnership" or CEP.

Singapore and the US also agree to negotiate a free trade agree in November 2000 ( de
Jonquieres , 2000). AFTA negotiated a connection with the CET. A free-trade area of Northeast
Asia is being studied in China, Japan, and Korea.

These CEPs had a demonstration effect, and the Philippines began in January 2001, to discuss,
not negotiate, similar CEPs with the US and Thailand with Korea.

Five reason why at the beginning of the 21st Century, bilateral trade pacts and financial
initiatives jumped into action.
 The first and most important is the Asia financial crisis (1997-1998).
 Second, the seattle debacle and resistance to the launch of the next WTO round of
MTNs have caused the Asian economic policymaker a great deal of concern.
 Third, one of the factor was always the inspiration given by European integration and
the SEM.
 Fourth, regional political and economic leadership was deprived of the poor quality of
leadership on the global economic arena provided by the US and the EU ( Areddy ,
2000 ; Economist , 2000).
  Fifth, impatience with the APEC and ASEAN impasse was another cogent motivation
behind the bilateral free trade agreements.

Asian Economies, especially Japan, have become less willing to submit to US leadership
unconditionally.