"CEAC Commentary" introduces news analyses andopinions in Japan on the concept of an East AsianCommunity, but they do not represent the views ofCEAC as an institution.
January 26, 2009

On the Regional Cooperation in Trade andInvestment in East Asia
By MURAKAMI Masayasu
The Council on East Asian Community (CEAC) held the 30th Policy Plenary
Meeting on November 27, 2008. The Policy Plenary Meeting is the core of CEAC activities
and a place for Think‐tank Members, Intellectual Members, and Corporate Members toassemble and exchange their knowledge, information and views and share the awareness of
the issues and their strategic implications by conducting face‐to‐face discussions. The themeof the 30th Policy Plenary Meeting was ʹThe Recent Development and Future Challenges in
the Regional Cooperation in Trade and Investment.ʹ Prof. URATA Shujiro, Intellectual
Member of CEAC and Professor of Waseda University, made the keynote presentation,
which was followed by an active exchange of views among members of CEAC.
Citing various interesting data, Prof. URATA made empirical explanations about
the recent trend of trade and investment in East Asia. Looking at the export share in theregion, he showed that Japan, due to its downward trend in value of export, ceded its
long‐held top position among ASEAN+3 countries and is now ranking third after China andASEAN. This fact has taught us a renewed recognition of the sharply declining importanceof Japan as a leading role in the regional integration. On the other hand, the rate of regional
interdependence in trade has slightly increased in East Asia as a whole. However, while therate has increased in ASEAN, Korea and Japan, it has declined contrastingly in China,
which is strengthening its dependence on North America. Thus, we can see in a fresh lightthe fact that the interdependence between the US and China has become so close that it
stands out in the course of regional economic integration in East Asia.
As for the future course of Japan, Prof. URATA proposed that Japan should try toenhance the development potential of this region by linking liberalization with economiccooperation. Here, he added that there is no need for us to hasten to choose among ASEAN
plus 3, ASEAN plus 6 or APEC the main vehicle in pursuit of community building in theregion. In conclusion, he stressed that each of those regional frameworks should tread its
own path under the same banner of an East Asian Community and that such efforts will
surely brighten the prospects for the future. I quite agree with him. Over the question of an
East Asian Community building, people tend to be judgmental regardless of whether they
are for it or against it; using many ʺoughtʺ in their arguments. However, it should makemore sense for us to forge multilayered combination of those frameworks and pile on steady1

results, without losing sight of our long‐term goal of an East Asian Community. This is thecrucial point that I share with Prof. URATA.

(This is the English translation of an article written by Mr. MURAKAMI Masayasu,
Executive Vice President of the Council on East Asian Community, which originallyappeared on the BBS “Hyakka-Somei” of CEAC on December 6, 2008)2