# **Chapter 11 -East Asia Today**

The review of Asian economic history in Chapter I revealed two aspects of trade in the region (i.e., intraregional and global) that overlapped and interacted in such a way as to have effectively functioned as one system. This, in addition to the evidence of Asia's prominent role in the global economy at that time, supports the argument that Asian trade has been open and global for centuries.

In this chapter, we will take a look at the region in the current period and focus on two characteristics that have figured significantly in the development of East Asian regional cooperation; i.e., diversity and openness. Certain economic and social indicators will provide an overview of the region in terms of economic size and development, educational level, life expectancy, and ethnic and religious breakdown. These will reveal the heterogeneity of East Asia, particularly in comparison with other regions of the world; e.g., North America (herein represented by NAFTA) and Europe (represented by the EU).3 Other indicators will reveal the degree of East Asia's openness and integration with the global economy. Relative to these indicators, the significance of the member composition of various regional institutions (e.g., ASEAN and APEC) will be explored. **134**

# **A Diverse Region**

If any single word can be used to describe East Asia, that word is "diverse". Nearly every aspect of the region can be characterized as diverse whether it be country size, ethnicity, religion, language, politics, or economic development. Compared to Europe, for example, "[ ... ] East Asia is characterized by greater diversity in terms of size, the level of economic development, industrial structures, the depth of financial markets, and broad institutional frameworks [... .].,135 East Asia's ethnic, religious and political diversity is clearly demonstrated in Table S.1 in the Statistical Appendix,'<sup>36</sup> which provides a breakdown in these areas for each country. With few exceptions, the countries of East Asia are home to varied populations that in the aggregate espouse nearly every religion in the world. Some ethnic groups (e.g., Chinese and Malay) are present in several countries - as a majority in some and a minority in others. The small country of Myanmar claims 135 ethnic groups within eight major races, whereas Japan and Korea each are home to only one ethnic group with just a small minority of one other. Systems of government include variations on constitutional monarchies, republics (independent and parliamentary), communist states, and military governments, among others.

Illiteracy and life expectancy data for these countries reveal further heterogeneity. For example, Table S.2 shows the illiteracy level in 1999 to be extremely low for Korea (1 percent and 4 percent for males and females, respectively), but very high for Cambodia (41 percent and 79 percent, respectively). The difference in life expectancy among countries is also wide - for Japan and Hong Kong it is above 80 years, while for Cambodia and Lao PDR it is only 54 years.

The heterogeneity reflected in these social indicators is in part related to the region's economic diversity. Table 2.1 below shows basic measures of economic size, including land area, population level and density, and gross national income (GNI).

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