Viewing the rise of China from Japan's perspective, the author elucidates Japanese policy responses and their implications for regional institution building. It fills a gap in knowledge about the development of East Asian regional institutions and Sino-Japanese relationships.

This book examines the need for greater East Asian cooperation and the challenges to this grand endeavor. With differing national outlooks, how can East Asia preserve peace, prosperity and stability amidst geopolitical competition? To answer this question, the volume examines the political and economic relations between Beijing and its neighbors against the backdrop of two trends: the power shift from the West to the East in the aftermath of the American Financial Crisis and the ongoing eurozone crisis, as well as the rise of China.

The prospect of a new, rapidly rising China poses both opportunities and challenges for regional community building in Asia Pacific. In this book, intellectual leaders from the region present their perspectives on China's development. Four chapters by Chinese authors analyze the domestic dynamics related to the country's political and economic development as well as its external economic and political/security relationships. Contributors from Japan, Korea, member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Australia/New Zealand cover the growing political influence of China in the region, its influence on security in the region, and the implications of China's continuing economic growth. Five final chapters examine China's regional strategy toward Asia Pacific, Japan-China cooperation on regional community building, taking a greater role in regional security arrangements and the regional economic order, and the cultural implications for the region of the rise of China. Contributors include Yang Guangbin (Renmin University, Japan), Men Honghua (Central Party School, China), Wang Rongjun (Chinese Academy of Social Science), Ni Feng (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Takahara Akio (Rikkyo University, Japan), Ohashi Hideo (Senshu University, Japan), Lee Geun, (Seoul National University, Korea), Jwa Sung-Hee (Korea Economic Research Institute), Morada Noel (Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, Philippines), Mari Pangestu (former executive director, Center for Strategic and International Studies), Greg Austin, (European Institute for Asian Studies, Brussels, and Australian National University), Jusuf Wanandi (Center for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia), Chia Siow Yue (Singapore Institute of International Affairs and EADN), and Wang Gungwu, (East Asian Institute, Singapore).

"Connecting" and "distancing" have been two prominent themes permeating the writings on the historical and contemporary developments of the relationship between Southeast Asia and China. As neighbours, the nation-states in Southeast Asia and the giant political entity in the north communicated with each other through a variety of diplomatic overtures, political agitations, and cultural nuances. In the last two decades with the rise of China as an economic powerhouse in the region, Southeast Asia's need to connect with China has become more urgent and necessary as it attempts to reap the benefit from the successful economic modernization in China. At the same time, however, there were feelings of ambivalence, hesitation and even suspicions on the part of the Southeast Asian states vis-a-vis the rise of a political power which is so less understood or misunderstood. The contributors of this volume are authors of various disciplinary backgrounds: history, political science, economics and sociology. They provide a spectrum of perspectives by which the readers can view Sino-Southeast Asia relations.

Have Japan's relative economic decline and China's rapid ascent altered the dynamics of Asian regionalism? Peter Katzenstein and Takashi Shiraishi, the editors of Network Power, one of the most comprehensive volumes on East Asian regionalism in the 1990s, present here an impressive new collection that brings the reader up to date. This book argues that East Asia's regional dynamics are no longer the result of a simple extension of any one national model. While Japanese institutional structures and political practices remain critically important, the new East Asia now under construction is more than, and different from, the sum of its various national parts. At the outset of a new century, the interplay of Japanese factors with Chinese, American, and other national influences is producing a distinctively new East Asian region.

China, Japan and Regional Leadership in East Asia is a compilation which provides a necessary and welcome update to the Asian regionalism debates of the last decade, bringing together notable experts in Asian area studies and comparative foreign policy to provide many new insights. . . essential reading both for practitioners of Asian studies and those concerned with the role of comparative regionalism in modern international relations. Marc Lanteigne, East Asia An International Quarterly . . . this book is strongly recommended reading for everyone interested in Japan China relations, leadership, and East Asia. It proves that looking at complex issues from a variety of angles does bring a much deeper understanding. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Marie Söderberg, Journal of Japanese Studies This book addresses one of the most intriguing but also under-researched issues of the future of the Asian strategic landscape: who will lead the region and replace US leadership, Japan and China, and what kind of leadership do we have to expect? The authors come to the conclusion that it is a matrix or combination of leadership options rather than a single leadership type, depending on issue domains, governance structure and geospatial scales. . . The conclusions by Christopher Dent admirably draw the theoretical and empirical issues together. Reinhard Drifte, Pacific Affairs This book considers themes, evidence and ideas relating to the prospects for regional leadership in East Asia, with particular reference to China and Japan assuming regional leader actor roles. Key issues discussed by the list of distinguished contributors include: the extent to which there is an East Asian region to lead China Japan relations different aspects of Japan and China s positions in the East Asia region how the seemingly inexorable rise of China is being addressed within the region how China and Japan have explored paths of regional leadership through certain regional and multilateral organisations and frameworks the position of certain intermediary powers (i.e. the United States and Korea) with regards to regional leadership diplomacy in East Asia. Invaluably, the concluding chapter brings together the main findings of the book and presents new analytical approaches for studying the nature of, and prospects for leadership in East Asia. China, Japan and Regional Leadership in East Asia will be essential reading for upper level undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers of international relations, regional studies, international political economy and economics as well as Asian and development studies.

The relations between ASEAN and China occupy a unique and important position in the foreign relations of the Asia-Pacific region. This volume investigates the impacts of global changes and regional challenges confronting the contemporary developments of China-ASEAN relations.

China and East Asian Strategic Dynamics: the Shaping of a New Regional Order, edited by Mingjiang Li and Dongmin Lee, examines how China's remarkable economic growth and its proactive diplomatic efforts in recent years have not only shored up its importance in global issues, but also induced a transformation of the strategic dynamics in East Asia. Given that the rise of China is has been a prominent issue in politics and economics worldwide, this edited collection is essential for a wide audience of policy-makers, academics, and students alike.

An exploration of the evolution of regionalism and regional economic relations in East Asia since the late 1990s. The book analyzes moves towards free trade agreements, cooperation in information technology, energy and environment, and agriculture, by highlighting preferences and actions of governmental and business actors.

In Southeast Asia, China’s growing economic and political strength has been accompanied by adept diplomacy and active promotion of regional cooperation, institutions and integration. Southeast Asian states and China engage in ‘strategic regionalism’: they seek regional membership for regime legitimation and collective bargaining; and regional integration to enhance economic development, regarded as essential for ensuring national and regime security. Sino-Southeast Asian regionalism is exemplified by the development plans for the Mekong River basin, where ambitious projects for building regional infrastructural linkages and trade contribute to mediating the security concerns of the Mekong countries. However, Mekong regionalism also generates new insecurities. Developing the resources of the Mekong has led to serious challenges in terms of governance, distribution and economic externalities. Resource-allocation and exploitation conflicts occur most obviously within the realm of water projects, especially hydropower development programmes. While such disputes are not likely to erupt into armed conflict because of the power asymmetry between China and the lower Mekong states, they exacerbate Southeast Asian concerns about China’s rise and undermine Chinese rhetoric about peaceful development. But the negative security consequences of developing the Mekong are also due to the shared economic imperative, and the Southeast Asian states’ own difficulties with collective action due to existing intramural conflicts.