Neo-regionalism and neoliberal Asia

Asian regionalism has been predominantly a Japanese-led discourse, strategy, and ideology throughout the region’s modern/colonial history. Asianism’s condition of possibility is inseparable from the history of Western and Japanese imperialism and colonialism. To be more precise, Japan’s evocation of regional solidarity is a response to the real and perceived threat of Western aggression and the justification of its own empire-building in Asia. Any discussion of regionalism cannot escape the West-Japan-Asia triad (Ching 2009). The relative lack of Japanese discourse on Asian regionalism today suggests two possible interpretations: that the West is no longer a threat and that the balance of power has shifted in the region.1.

Duke Scholars

Author Leo Ching Asian & Middle Eastern Studies