China, regional institution-building and the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area

This article uses the concepts of critical juncture and feedback effects in historical institutionalism to examine China's role in promoting a China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA). The first section examines the specific combination of structural factors and key intervention from Chinese policymakers that triggered the CAFTA process. The second section outlines the details of the CAFTA negotiations, analyzing the feedback effects that shaped the path and eventual outcomes of the CAFTA Agreement. Attention is given to China's initiation of a programme of 'early harvest' agreements that were added to the CAFTA Agreement Framework in order to help persuade the hesitant states in the region to enlist in the China-led conception of Asian regionalism.