The formation of East Asian Sub-regional markets and the Role of Affiliates of Japanese Firms

In the last year of the three-year research project, we focused on the Chinese economy and conducted a fieldwork in the shanghai-Suzhou and Shenzhen-Hong Kong areas in July 1999. We visited a number of affiliates of Japanese and other nationalities and analyzed the nature of economic integration at the sub-regional level that have proceeded in both physical and monetary aspects. It was found that the multi-layered economic integration has been going on and industrial agglomeration has begun to form with foreign affiliates as a core. The fieldwork confirmed the importance of the concept of sub-region when analyzing the Asian economies, rather than working with the traditional way of using the concept of national economies. In addition, a survey for the whole East Asia including China was conducted to evaluate the advancement of economic integration in terms of trade, foreign direct investment, and finance. Changes in the related policies were also reviewed. The study revealed that the Asian economies have experienced a number of irreversible changes in the structure of economy as well as policy environment. It was confirmed that economic interactions beyond national border have intensified and traditional policies for infant industry protection with trade barriers have critically been reviewed. The result of this three-year project will be publicized in the form of a book titled Ajia Keizaiken no Saihensei: Boueki, Chokusetsu Toushi to Kinyuu (Reformulation of Asian Economic Area: Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Finance), edited by Yoko Sazanami and Fukunari Kimura (Tokyo: Keio University Press). It will include research papers by the head investigator and other investigators as well as articles by three research collaborators.