Jessie Poon, Department of Geography,
University at Buffalo-SUNY, Buffalo, USA
United States Defense Trade and Asia-Pacific Regionalism (assigned to theme
Compared to Europe, the growth of regional institutions that facilitate trade, investment and commercial exchanges between geographically proximate countries has been relatively slow in the Asia Pacific: the first free trade area in the region was only established in 2002. This paper examines the relationship between Asia’s lack of institutional building that enhances regional integration, and, the pattern and nature of its defense trade with the United States (US). Investigating the nature of US defense trade in the region is expected to shed light on Asian regionalism for two reasons: first, the defense industry is highly regulated since it is characterized predominantly by state-to-state exchanges. US regulation of its trade in defense has the consequence of regional fragmentation in Asia as targeted countries are denied sales of military equipment and this encourages arms race between regionally proximate countries. Second, US defense trade is strongly driven by geopolitical strategies hence some Asian countries are much more oriented to the US than their neighbors. Overall, the effect of regional fragmentation seeks to reinforce than to attenuate regional diversity that has historically characterized the region. This weakens capacity among countries for regional institution building.
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