about a major improvement in the industrial structures of Southeast Asian countries. However, the new path for Japan, that is, to become a major importer, has not yet been established.

## The United States and Southeast Asia

The flying wild geese development in the Asia-Pacific region is characterized by a benign circle, in that investment creates more investment and exports create more investment. The de facto integration was achieved by mild and sustained changes and developments rather than by legal means as in the case of the EC. This was against the background of favorable domestic policies and the presence of entrepreneur spirit among capitalists and workers and the fact that both foreign investors and the market responded to it through mutual interdependence.

Because of the development in the Asia-Pacific region, this region has come to have an important implication for the United States before anyone realized it. For the United States, the volume of transpacific trade has become bigger than that of transatlantic trade. The United States has come to import more from Taiwan than Germany, more from South Korea than France and more from Hong Kong than the United Kingdom. As an export market, Singapore is larger than Italy, Thailand is larger than the former Soviet Union, and Indonesia is larger than Eastern Europe.

The United States is publicly rejecting EAEC while supporting APEC. It is reported that recently, the United States is contemplating the conclusion of bilateral agreements and free trade agreements that would exclude Japan. The end of the Cold War has prompted the United States to reduce its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. However, economic importance of Asia for the United States has increased sharply and is expected to continue to do so. The American rejection of EAEC may be prompted by its interpretation that it is a move to exclude America, which intends to maintain its economic influence, despite its reduced military presence, in the region.

## Flying wild geese development through market opening

The triangular regional economic concept is interpreted as focusing on the economies of each region. The important point in this concept is that it is based on the assumption of international cooperation. Through triangular development, each country becomes an investor and a trading partner. Such relationship is embraced by a larger triangle to realize growth. This is the path to the realization of the X Zone and the Asia-Pacific Economic Corridor. International competition amid mutual interdependence is the path toward coexistence, and should provide central focus on overall development. The center of development is the overlapping of small triangles.

There is an argument seeking reconsideration of policies intended to foster export-oriented industries. Such call has originated from the present situation in which advanced industrialized countries like the United States are suffering from large trade deficits and are inclined toward the adoption of protectionism. It is also a request from less developed developing countries which are trying to follow the path of NIEs. This may be interpreted as a demand for domestic demand-led growth and for market opening. Normally, competition