An unacknowledged key feature of East Asian FTA diplomacy is the region's active cross-regional preferential trading relations. In sharp contrast to the Americas and Europe, where cross-regional initiatives gained strength after the consolidation of regional trade integration, East Asian governments negotiate trade deals with partners outside of their region at an early stage in their FTA policies. The book asks three main questions: Are there regional factors in East Asia encouraging countries to explore cross-regionalism early on? What are the most important criteria behind the cross-regional partner selection? How do cross-regional FTSs (CRTAs) influence their intra-regional trade initiatives? Through detailed country case studies from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, we show the ways in which these governments seek to leverage their CRTAs in the pursuit of intra-regional trade integration objectives, a process that yields a much more permeated regionalism.

Banking on Multinationals addresses two fundamental puzzles in Japanese industrial policy: Why does the Japanese state-better known for its attempts to control markets, protect infant industries, and maximize national exports-administer the world's largest public program to support the expansion of multinational corporations? And why does the Japanese state not fear loss of control over mobile multinational corporations and erosion of the domestic export base through foreign direct investment (FDI)? Solis's explanation of Japan's lead in state financing of FDI takes into account both the industrial policy goals behind the extension of FDI loans and the political uses of subsidized credit to appease economically weak but politically powerful constituencies. As the first systematic study of Japan's public FDI loan program, Banking on Multinationals reveals a previously unexamined dimension of Japanese government policy and helps explain the uncanny ability of stagnant sectors and small firms to participate in FDI activities. Rather than simply espousing the familiar idea that Japan's preeminent role as banker to multinationals is evidence of mercantilism in Japanese foreign economic policy, this book brings to life the domestic political conflicts underlying FDI policy.

An unacknowledged key feature of East Asian FTA diplomacy is the region's active cross-regional preferential trading relations. In sharp contrast to the Americas and Europe, where cross-regional initiatives gained strength after the consolidation of regional trade integration, East Asian governments negotiate trade deals with partners outside of their region at an early stage in their FTA policies. The book asks three main questions: Are there regional factors in East Asia encouraging countries to explore cross-regionalism early on? What are the most important criteria behind the cross-regional partner selection? How do cross-regional FTSs (CRTAs) influence their intra-regional trade initiatives? Through detailed country case studies from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, we show the ways in which these governments seek to leverage their CRTAs in the pursuit of intra-regional trade integration objectives, a process that yields a much more permeated regionalism.