While Europe ponders NATO expansion and a common currency, the Asia-Pacific region continues to shun multilateral institutions as inappropriate and Western. Out of Asia's economic miracle has grown a debate about 'Asian values,' one subset of which was the existence of an Asia-Pacific approach toward institution building. Advocates of this approach contend that informal structures based on consensus are better suited to Asian practices than the more formal and legalistic models favored in Europe.
Asian leaders can no longer credibly advance myths about the benign nature of deficits.
Nor can these leaders maintain that consensus and dialogue are a viable alternative to well-developed multilateral institutions. As policymakers struggle to put Asia's economic house in order, the need to supplant predation with cooperation has become apparent. According to Bergsten, the cut-throat practices are 'reminiscent of the 1930s,' which produced the Great Depression and Second World War. Had a regional economic institution tied Tokyo and Bangkok in the same way that the North American Free Trade Agreement has established interdependence between the United States and Mexico, prompt and sufficient aid would have been more ikely, buoying investor confidence and arresting the crisis. Third, the crisis revealed the unpleasant truth that APEC has failed to open Asian economies.