While the Iraq war and Middle East conflicts command the attention of the United States and most of the rest of the developed world, fundamental changes are occurring in East Asia. North Korea has tested nuclear weapons, even as it and South Korea have effectively entered a period of tepid détente; relations among China, Japan, and South Korea are a complex mixture of conflict and cooperation; and Japan is developing more forthright security policies, even as it deepens ties with the United States. Together, these developments pose vital questions for world stability and security. In East Asian Multilateralism, prominent international foreign affairs scholars examine the range of implications of shifting alignments in East Asia. The first part delves into the intraregional dynamics, and the second assesses current economic conditions and policies within individual East Asian states. The third section examines the challenge of regional cooperation from the perspectives of local players, while the fourth analyzes the implications for foreign policy in the United States and in Asia. This thorough review and assessment charts the preconditions and prospects for deeper multilateralism, poses tough questions about America's security and national interests in the region, and carries a plea for more serious institution-building in the North Pacific, using the ongoing six-party process in talks on North Korea as a point of departure.

Daniel C. Sneider is the associate director for research of Shorenstein APARC, directing the Center's project on regionalism and nationalism. A former foreign correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and the San Jose Mercury News, Sneider reported from India, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union.

East Asian countries were notably uninterested in regional monetary integration until the late 1990's, when the Asian financial crisis revealed the fragility of the region's exchange rate arrangements and highlighted the need for a stronger regional financial architecture. Since then, the countries of East Asia have begun taking steps to explore monetary and financial cooperation, establishing such initiatives as regular consultations among finance ministers and central bank governors and the pooling of foreign exchange reserves. In this book Ulrich Volz investigates the prospects for monetary cooperation and integration in East Asia, using state-of-the-art theoretical and empirical tools to analyze the most promising policy options. --

China's entry into the World Trade Organization could have a decisive impact on that country's long-term development as well as on its relations with Asian neighbors and the United States. A best-case scenario posits a China confident of its role in the region, valuing stability and prosperity. A Chinese middle class could arise. Prospects would be good for mutually beneficial U.S.-China relations and for Chinese social and political reforms. Although a strong China could become a regional aggressor, that prospect is unlikely. It is also unrealistic to expect that China will not modernize its military and use it to enhance its international influence. A strong, stable China is likely to cooperate with Asian neighbors to maintain regional peace and stability.