The Singapore Plate and Great Power Realities: The Impact of the East Asian Financial Crisis Upon the Geopolitical Influence of China and Japan in Southeast Asia Today

Abstract

Since the dawning of the 1990s, a peculiar synergetic relationship has existed and continues to evolve between ASEAN, China and Japan. For years a prudently maintained balance of power characterized the western Pacific Rim but July 1997 brushed aside convention and ushered in a new era of strategic jockeying. Now the region is in search of leadership. The underlying premise of this study flows from the observation that the East Asian Financial Crisis has adversely impacted ASEAN's capacity to function as an effective and creditable bulwark of stability (in the geopolitical and geoeconomic sense) and security. As a direct result of this predicament, opportunities and constraints currently exist for external powers – like Japan and the People's Republic of China – to further augment their respective influence throughout the region. Yet simply describing events and processes will not suffice. Examination of pertinent issues such as cause and effect, policy intent and state behavior are requisite ingredients in the development of this report. Thus the overall structure of the paper will be rooted on putting forward rejoinders to two distinct yet corresponding country-specific questions and then subsequently to cultivate analysis of the answers given. a Indeed, the author attempts not only to illustrate the linkage between the East Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/1998 and the foreign policy designs of Japan and the People's Republic of China concerning ASEAN. But also to assess carefully the proverbial window of opportunity" which exists for Beijing and Tokyo to assert their distinct form of leadership and vision for the future development of the western Pacific Rim. If regional events since the summer of 1997 have proved anything, it is that Southeast Asia continues to be the focus of great power interest and intervention.