On account of China¡¦s dynamic economic growth, its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states to its south have expanded rapidly in recent years, culminating in the conclusion of the landmark ¡§China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement¡¨ in 2002. Beyond trade and economic activities, China-ASEAN cooperation has been broadened to cover environment, science and technology, non-traditional security areas and related legal issues. Thus, China¡¦s relations with ASEAN have reached a new era where the two sides have established an economic, political and legal framework for their comprehensive cooperation. Of course, economic cooperation is most important in China-ASEAN relations. The most significant of the initiatives, in terms of members, is the China¡VASEAN Free Trade Area now under negotiation and will be established in 2010. If agreement is reached, this will be the world¡¦s biggest free trade area, encompassing 2 billion people, a collective GDP of almost US$2 trillion, and intra-regional trade of US$1.2 trillion. On the political aspect, China succeeded by means of the bilateral cooperation in economy and trade reached to sign the agreement of ¡§on Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity¡¨ and ¡§Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea¡¨. China also accessed ¡§Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia¡¨ in 2003. These movements want to eliminate the ¡§China threaten¡¨ concepts which exist in the ASEAN countries. China, however, needs stable international environment to expand its economy. The aim of this dissertation is to examine the China¡¦s roles and strategies in the process of forming a new Asian regionalism. Currently, Ease Asia is witnessing the emergence of a few trade blocs and many ambitious projects implying closer integration in the region. According to the neo-realist perspective, regionalism is developing more full in those areas of the word where there is a local hegemonic power that is able to create and maintain regional institution. China to make use of regional hegemony offers the public goods stabilizing and developing its relations with ASEAN countries. On the basis of friendly neighboring diplomacy and peaceful rise, China and ASEAN will create free trade area, cooperate to achieve various kinds of sub-region developing, and initiate security mechanism (include the non-traditional security). China would like to build a ¡§China-ASEAN regionalism¡¨ by means of comprehensive cooperation in the future.

Trade Integration between China and ASEAN, which is behind North American Free Trade Agreement and European Union. It will become the third largest economy in the world. The prupose of this study tries to look for ¡§substantial¡¨ strategies and methods of China-ASEAN free trade area between China and ASEAN. In the conclusion, this study discovers China-ASEAN free trade area is an important tool for China, because of China could use it achieving regional stability, resource strategies, South-West development, and connection of East Asia integration. In process of trade integration, China not only adds trade and investment in Southeast Asia, but also provides economic assistance and joins ASEAN plus one. To came to China¡¦s WinWin pruposes.

The main objective of this thesis is analysis of the impact of the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) on Mexican economy. Especially the evaluation of the positive and negative effects of NAFTA on the economic growth of the Mexican economy. The secondery objective of this thesis is presentation and analysis of the concrete negative impact of NAFTA on Mexico, which is connected with the implementation of this agreement. This problem is related to the maquiladoras, these are assembly lines situated on the border between Mexico and the United States.

This thesis addresses issues concerning trade effects of a particular RTA: AFTA. In the first part of the thesis, 2 different but related gravity frameworks are constructed as to evaluate the independent effects of AFTA on relevant countries' trade flows. The first paper proposes examining ‘AFTA-effects' on members' trade, specifically within the AFTA context. This aims to distinguish trade effects that AFTA has had on early and delayed members' trading patterns. The panel ‘Gravity Model' is constructed, pointing to control for several biases commonly observed in the cross-section model. Although the result implies that early members do share trade benefits from AFTA more than non-members, the overall ‘AFTA-effects' on the membership's trade have not been benign. Another paper measures ‘AFTA-effects' on both members' and non-members' trade. This aims to assess whether AFTA has played a role as an export base for the international market. In this case, ‘AFTA-effects' appeared positive. Such effects are driven by an enhancement in extra-export bias, suggesting that the membership's exports to outside destinations have increased post-AFTA. The last paper provides a theoretical framework addressing the incidence of RTA-membership expansion. The fact that AFTA was gradually established and empirical results indicating AFTA's impacts on members and non-members brings about the idea that bloc-membership expansion could plausibly be explained by the economic effects that these countries have received. The corollaries of trading with/without RTA-membership of a potential member's gains of trade and welfare levels are related to the decision towards membership. Even though welfare effects are not always greater, the RTA-membership status surely benefits member countries in gains from trade more than non-members. This can be perceived as one of the important reasons to explain the widespread regionalism worldwide and why joining the RTA is often seen as a safe haven strategy for a country.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Economics / Yang M. Chang / There have been considerable discussions about why countries have interests in forming preferential trade agreements (PTAs), which typically take the forms of a “free trade area” (FTA) with Rules of Origin (ROO) and a “customs union” (CU) (World Bank, 2005). This dissertation contains three essays with three different models of trade under oligopoly to analyze various issues on preferential trade agreements. The first essay examines welfare implications of forming preferential trade arrangement (PTAs) between two asymmetric countries that differ in their market sizes. Key findings are as follows. First, when market size asymmetry between two countries is not too large and ROO requirements are not too restrictive, the formation of an FTA with effective ROO can be welfare-improving to both members. Second, the formation of a PTA is more likely to emerge between countries of similar in their market sizes, ceteris paribus. Third, compared to the pre-PTA equilibrium, there are greater reductions in external tariffs under an FTA than under a CU such that a non-member country is relatively better off under the FTA. The second essay presents a three country model of trade under Bertrand price competition to analyze differences in welfare implications between an FTA with ROO and a customs union (CU). It is shown that the maximum limit of ROO requirements over which there are welfare gains from trade for FTA members depends crucially on the degree of substitutability of final goods (or the intensity of product market competition). It is also found that member countries and their final-good exporters are better off in a CU than in an FTA. There are greater reductions in external tariffs under an FTA than under a CU such that a non-member country is relatively better off under the FTA. The third essay presents a three country model of FTA with Cournot quantity competition and derives the maximum enforceable level of ROO over which there are welfare gains from trade to each member country. It is shown that ROO and external tariffs are strategic complements such that the higher is the regional input restrictions, the higher is the external tariff necessary to induce firms to fully comply with ROO requirements. It is also shown that an FTA with effective ROO has a positive effect on the final-good trade. But the trade-diverting effect does not occur in the final-good sector.

<p>Explore factors that influence investors interested in investing in the electronic components sector in Thailand, with a focus on the consequences of Thailand‟s membership in the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement.</p>

This paper gives description of comprehensive free trade area treaties and explains them using the example of agreement between European Union and South Korea. First chapter focuses on theoretical aspects of comprehensive free trade areas. Second chapter of this paper provides analysis of the potential of Korean economy. It also describes trade strategy of South Korea as far as regionalism is concerned. The third chapter deals with the content of the agreement between EU and South Korea and analyses the potential impact of this agreement on mutual trade relations of these two partners.

Explore factors that influence investors interested in investing in the electronic components sector in Thailand, with a focus on the consequences of Thailand‟s membership in the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement.

The focus of this research is the relationship between economic cooperation and security regime in the East Asia based on the theory of neo-functionalism. After the Cold War, the economic cooperation in the East Asia become deeper, meanwhile, the North Korea's nuclear problem is still the hotspot in the East Asia. In the process of cooperation in the East Asia, the relationship between economic cooperation and security regime is complementary, which could solve the North Korea's nuclear problem. The process and frame of the relationship between economic cooperation and security regime in the East Asia, will be analyzed in this thesis for offering the government¡¦s decision-making about the possibility of Taiwan¡¦s engagement in the regional cooperation in East Asia.

After the end of Cold War, China and ASEAN develop new international development strategies. China¡¦s new guiding principle of diplomacy is ¡§peace and development¡¨, and ASEAN hope to establish a multipolar world system through ¡§equidistant diplomacy¡¨ and regional economic integration. Due to the new international development strategies, China and ASEAN open the new cooperation opportunities, namely Mekong Subregion Cooperation, which concentrates on some functional sectors, such as transportation fundamental construction, investment, trade, agriculture and tourism sectors. With the effects of ¡§ramification¡¨, the functional cooperation is good in progress. This in turn pushes the interactions between China and ASEAN gradually ¡§spill-over¡¨ to political and security aspects which eventually make the ¡§East Asian Community¡¨ possible.