The Economic Future of The Pacific Basin

Abstract

My observations on the economic future of the "Pacific Basin" can be no more than a "synoptic view" of selected and interrelated problems and problem areas of the region, which have a bearing on the likely course of events in the decade (s) ahead. My views are inevitably influenced by a Southeast Asian perspective, but they are presented with a deep awareness that our problems are inextricably part of a wider context. Future evolution is determined by the constellation of prevailing conditions, the underlying internal dynamics in the social process of the respective societies, and the external impulses emanating from exogenous (in our case: transregional).

The Pacific Basin can not as yet be viewed as a "community" with its own arrangements. Whether or not the Pacific Basin or parts  there of emerge as a distinct economic entity, the fact remains that it is and will remain a region where the convergence of major power interests and the interplay of attendant forces influence the "world balance" with increasing intensity. Hence, the future of the Pacific region is part and parcel of the course of events on the international scene. It is subject to the same influence of interests and motivations that govern relations among and between the super powers and the major blocs, but where nevertheless the smaller nations need not necessarily be passive and helpless pawns in games played by others. The fate of smaller nations (and their groupings) depend as much on their ability to anticipate and respond to changing environments as on their determination to cope with the social dynamics within their own societies.