Transition of Economic and Political Leadership in East Asia Since the Second World War

After the Second World War, most East Asian countries were devastated as in Europe. Compared with Western Europe, there was no comprehensive reconstruction plan such the Marshall Plan in East Asia. Despite the fact, Japan achieved a remarkable economic growth based on a trade-oriented economic growth strategy that has been followed by other East Asian countries such as South Korea, ASEAN member nations, and later China. Japan's economic success made Japan the second largest economy in the world in 1968 until 2010, when they were taken over by China. As such, the Japanese economy dominated in the region till the 2000s. However, its share has declined continuously because other major economies such as ASEAN, China, and South Korea have generated higher economic growth rates than Japan. Japan's role in the unilateral leadership thus faced severe competition in the 1990s and the 2000s in terms of investments and trade partners for FTAs. As a result, the unilateral leadership in the region started to transform into the multilateral leadership shared by other major economies such as ASEAN, China, and South Korea. At present, the Chinese economy gains more attention than ever to strengthen her leadership based on Mega FTA such as RCEP, while Japan struggles to restore her leadership with CPTPP in the region. At the same time, ASEAN and South Korea are also keen to expand their roles in influencing in the region continuously. Overall, the transition of economic and political leadership in the region has been processed by playing their roles that are linked to their national and regional interests focused on regional economic integration known as regionalization or regionalism.