ASEAN+3 Cooperation: Issues and prospects

Abstract

Entering the final decade of the 20th Century, the movement of regionalism strongly increased in the world while Asia was slow but move in this way. However the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-1998 had changed the awareness in many countries in the region, especially in those heavily impacted by the crisis. The ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (Korea)) Summit Meeting held in 1997 with the aim of seeking a mutual cooperation and coordination to find measures for overcoming the financial crisis has officially opened up a new cooperation framework between ASEAN and the three East Asian countries called ASEAN+3 cooperation. The birth of ASEAN+3 has been considered as a strong development step in the trend of regional integration and movement towards a new East Asia regionalism. In this context, this paper aims at explore the process of the ASEAN+3 cooperation and prospects for the ASEAN+3 framework in future.