Abstract ♦ The factor of China is beginning to exert a stronger influence on the vital functions of the international community. Since the start of the 21st century, China has for the first time in its history become a certain stabilizer and even a powerful system integrator for the whole East Asian economy.
Notwithstanding the serious difficulties of the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis, China has not lost any of its investor attractiveness and laid a serious claim for the role of regional leader. It was this process that slowly but firmly set East Asia on the way to a deeper economic integration. This geopolitical approach of Chinese state has undoubtedly improved confidence between economic subjects both in the internal Chinese market and in the international trade in general. It allowed China to accept a special regional role, namely that of a ‘system controller’ over the one of the most rapidly developing regions of the contemporary world. The current agenda already features the issue of establishing an official and independent organ which will exercise full control over the financial situation on the East Asian market.
The experts have also noted China’s explicit unwillingness to miss out on the process of East Asian regional integration as a whole. China is very worried by the Japanese government’s commitment to restoring the military power of their state. China’s hostile attitude to Japan’s leading role in East Asian integration has stemmed from the evaluation of the regional security principles and of the future global political institutions from the standpoint of national interest. Analyzing the competition between several integration formats gives a distinct understanding that the victory in the struggle for regional leadership could bring not only moral satisfaction, but finally outline the geopolitical plot of further development and take it to up to the global level.
Keywords: China, East Asian economy, Asian financial crisis, USA, Japan, regional integration, Asia-Pacific region.
Balakin Vyacheslav Ivanovich, Candidate of Law, Associate Professor, Department of Regional Studies, Faculty of International Relations and Tourism, Moscow University of Humanities. Postal address: 5 Yunosti Str., Moscow, Russian Federation, 111395. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-55-90. E-mail:
viacheslavbalakin@rambler.ru
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