The Global Dimension of East Asian Production Sharing

This paper examines the global dimension of East Asian production sharing. It assesses the role of production sharing on East Asian economies and explores the underlying connection between the global economy and East Asian economies. It shows that production sharing, either intra-regionally or extra-regionally, plays a vital role on the capacity building of East Asian exports. There exists "dual" links between East Asian economy and the global market. Based on its close connection to the global economy, East Asia regional trade liberalization and the enhancement of production sharing can be mutually re-enforcing. One option for deepening East Asian regional integration could be to build an institutional arrangement based on its de facto integrated production platform. From the perspective of international trade and investment, the findings of this paper support the view that East Asia regionalism is a steppingstone rather than a handicap to multilateralism.