In Brief

East Asia is recovering from the global financial crisis more rapidly than the rest of the world economy. China, which recorded a growth rate of almost 8 per cent in real terms last quarter is ahead of the pack. The rebound in China is playing into developments elsewhere in the regional economy. The export numbers even in Japan are looking better in consequence of what is going on in China and are picking up around the region.

Less noticed, but perhaps more important, the global financial crisis has thrust the big Asian players onto the global stage in managing the recovery and, potentially, as key players in global economic (and political) governance through participation in the G20 process – the Group of 20 leading economies that have coalesced to coordinate the response to the crisis and to look at global economic governance in the longer term. Soo Gil Young and Hadi Soesastro have pointed to the significance of this development for leadership of Asian cooperation.

This week’s piece, by Wendy Dobson, an expert Canadian observer of Asian affairs, draws parallel conclusions. She notes that the crisis was a missed opportunity for cooperation among Asian economies where regional arrangements were unprepared for developing a coordinated response. She concludes, nonetheless, that the G20 has been an important catalyst in addressing the leadership ‘deficit’ in regional cooperation. There is an expectation that the Asian 6 members of the G20 (Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, India and Australia) will think and act in the global interest and this expectation could translate into this or a sub-group providing strategic leadership to replace the ad hoc initiatives of the past. The Asia 6 in the G20 are key players in the East Asia Summit. The next G20 meeting will be held in Pittsburgh, USA, on September 24. It is early days but, as Dobson argues, these developments could provide the strategic leadership that the region has so far been wanting.