The Pacific is the largest market in the world, and its potential is far from exhausted. Moreover, according to the forecasts of leading experts, in the future the share of this region in the world market will only expand. Let's find out in more detail what is the Asia-Pacific region. Let us dwell separately on the prospects and forecasts of its development.
Territory of the region
First of all, we will find out what constitutes the Asia-Pacific region in territorial terms. Traditionally, countries that are included in this region are considered to be states located on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, as well as Mongolia and Laos.
The entire Asia-Pacific region can be conditionally divided into 4 regions that correspond to parts of the world where the states included in it are located: North American, South American, Oceanic and Asian. In addition, the Asian region is conditionally divided into two subareas: these are North Asia and Southeast Asia.
The following countries are included in the North American region: Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Pica, Panama.
The South American region includes the states: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile.
The following countries are included in the North Asian subarea: China (China), Mongolia, Japan, North Korea, Republic of Korea, Republic of China (Taiwan), Russia. The countries of the Asia-Pacific region of this particular group occupy the largest territory, and in total have the highest population.
The following countries are included in the sub-region of Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, Brunei, Thailand. Many experts include Myanmar and Nepal. In addition, in some cases, India also acts as a country that is part of the Asia-Pacific region, but given that cases of India's inclusion in this region by experts are still quite rare, and the country itself does not have access to the Pacific Ocean, we will not consider it in as a subject of APR.
The Oceanian region includes many states of Oceania, most of which are quite small. Among the largest countries, both territorially and economically, this region should be distinguished Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Smaller states: Fiji, Solomon Islands, Palau, Nauru, Federation of Micronesia, Vanuatu, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa. This also includes many dependent territories, such as Guam, Tokelau, French Polynesia, etc.
History of the region
To more accurately understand what the Pacific region is, you need to delve into its history.
The oldest public entity in this region can be considered China. It is deservedly considered one of the cradles of civilization on earth. The first state formations appeared here in the III millennium BC. e. This makes China (the Asia-Pacific region) the oldest state, such as Egypt and Mesopotamia, the oldest civilizations in the Middle East.
Later, states appeared in Southeast Asia (the largest of them is the empire of Cambujades), in Japan and Korea. China, on the other hand, became a territory on which various empires were successively replaced, and a peculiar cultural and economic center of the region. Even after the formation of the great Eurasian Empire of the Mongols in the 13th century, uniting the land of the mainland from Russia to the Pacific Ocean (in fact, the western part of the modern APR), Hanbalik (present-day Beijing) became their main capital and adopted Chinese traditions and culture.
Russia first came ashore in the 17th century. Since then, the interests of this state are inextricably linked with the region. Already in 1689, the Nerchinsk Treaty was signed - the first official document between Russia and China, which delineated the differentiation of the zones of influence of these countries in the region. Over the next centuries, the Russian Empire expanded its area of influence in the Far East, which allows us to call the modern Russian Federation the unconditional part of the Asia-Pacific region.
State formations on the west coast of the American continent, which, paradoxically, is the eastern part of the Asia-Pacific Region, appeared much later than in Asia. The formation of the Peruvian “kingdom” of Cuzco, from which the famous Inca empire arose in the 15th century, dates back to 1197 AD. The Aztec Empire in Mexico arose even later.
But the different parts of the vast region, now known as the Asia-Pacific Region, were fragmented during the period we talked about above, and the inhabitants of the west coast of the Pacific Ocean knew nothing about the inhabitants of the east coast, and vice versa. The Asia-Pacific region began to gradually turn into a single whole only after the Great geographical discoveries of the XV-XVII centuries. It was then that Columbus discovered America, and Magellan made a trip around the world. Of course, the integration of the economy at the initial stages was rather slow, but nevertheless already in the 16th century the Philippines were included in the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain, with its center in Mexico.
In 1846, after the British concession to Oregon, the Pacific became one of the fastest growing states of the time - the United States. After California’s annexation, two years later the United States entered the Pacific Ocean in a wide strip and soon became the leading power in the region, greatly influencing its economy and markets. It was after the expansion of the United States to the west coast in the 19th century that the Pacific began to acquire features of economic unity.
But the APR acquired a more or less close to modern political and economic appearance only after the colonial sections of the 19th century, two world wars, and the decolonization process. During World War II, the Japanese Empire, relying on an alliance with Nazi Germany, tried to secure a dominant position in the region with the help of military force, but was defeated by the Allied forces.
Modernity
After World War II, like the rest of the world, the Asia-Pacific countries were actually divided into two political camps: the countries of the socialist development model and the capitalist one. In the first camp, the leaders were the USSR and China (although there were also ideological conflicts between these countries), in the second, the United States dominated. In addition to the United States, the most economically developed countries in the Asia-Pacific region from the capitalist camp were Canada, Japan, and Australia. After a certain time, it became clear that, despite the presence of many shortcomings, the capitalist (western) model of economic development has established itself as more successful.
Even Japan, which was defeated after World War II, chose the Western development model, thanks to US assistance, and in a rather short period of time became one of the most economically developed countries not only in the region, but also in the world as a whole. This phenomenon has been called the "Japanese economic miracle." In the late 80s, the economy of this country even threatened to take first place in the world in terms of GDP, but this did not happen due to the economic crisis.
In addition, since the 60s of the XX century, “Four Asian Tigers” demonstrated very high economic indicators. So called the following countries: Republic of Korea (South Korea), Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Their level of development exceeded even the level of some Western European countries. Thailand and the Philippines have also demonstrated good growth rates. But in the countries of the socialist camp, in particular in Vietnam, Mongolia, Laos, Cambodia and the DPRK, the economy developed much worse.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the political situation in the region changed dramatically. Even states such as China abandoned the pure socialist model of the economy, which, however, just allowed the latter to become one of the leaders of the world economy in the future. Such changes, however, are not so successful, have occurred in some other socialist countries included in the Asia-Pacific region. Politics has been relegated to the background in Vietnam. There, despite the continued domination of Marxist ideology, as in China, elements of a market economy were introduced. Cambodia generally abandoned the socialist doctrine.
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia lost its leading position in the region both economically and politically, but since the beginning of 2000, demonstrating significant indicators of economic growth, it has been able to largely regain what it lost.
The Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 dealt a significant blow to the region’s economy. The Four Asian Tigers were most affected. The crisis sharply stopped their economic growth. A powerful blow was also inflicted on the Japanese economy. This crisis has become one of the reasons for the default in Russia since 1998. Many of the current problems in the Asia-Pacific region have their roots in these crisis events.
The Chinese economy has also suffered, but, compared with the above countries, is not so much that it soon allowed to resume growth at an even faster pace. In 2014, the Chinese economy took first place in the world, ahead of the United States in terms of GDP and purchasing power parity. China remains the leader in this indicator at the present time, although so far it is still inferior to the United States in nominal GDP. In addition, goods from China dominate the market in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly because of their relatively low cost.
The global economic crisis of 2008 also negatively affected the region’s economy, but not as detrimental as the 1997 Asian crisis. Thus, the Asia-Pacific region is today one of the most powerful global economic regions, along with the eastern coast of America and Western Europe.
Leading countries
Next, we will talk about which countries currently dominate in this region, and due to what resources they do.
The fact that the Asia-Pacific region is a leader in the global economy is proved by the fact that three countries of this region (the USA, China and Japan) occupy first places in the world in nominal GDP. In terms of GDP (PPP), China and the United States lead. The third place is taken by India, which also belongs to the Asia-Pacific region by some experts. The top ten leaders for this indicator include countries such as Japan, Russia and Indonesia.
The most populated country in the world is also one of the Asia-Pacific countries - China. To date, the population of this country has exceeded 1.3 billion inhabitants. The top ten leaders also include such countries of the region as the USA and Indonesia. Russia and Japan.
The Asia-Pacific region includes four of the largest countries in the world: Russia, Canada, China and the United States. In addition, Australia is in the top ten largest states (6th place).
APR as part of the global market
If we consider the totality of the economies of all countries that are members of the Asia-Pacific region, then we can confidently say that this region is the largest world market with which, given all the economies of such countries as the USA, China and Russia, the European market at this stage cannot to compete. Ahead of Europe, the Asia-Pacific region made a kind of breakthrough. Experts predict an even more significant lag in the total economy of the EU and other European countries from the Asia-Pacific economy in the future.
Now in the market of the Asia-Pacific region, goods are especially in demand, the manufacture of which uses the latest electronic technology.
Collaboration and Integration
Interstate cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region plays a rather significant role in coordinating relations between countries. Integration between different countries of the region is expressed in the creation of various economic and political associations.
The most significant of them are: the ASEAN political and economic organization (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Myanmar), the SCO (Russia, China, India, Pakistan and a number of Central Asian CIS countries), Asia -Pacific Cooperation (APEC) (21 countries in the region, including the United States, China and Russia).
In addition, there are a number of smaller organizations that, unlike the above, do not cover all spheres of economic activity of states, but specialize in individual sectors. For example, the Asian Development Bank specializes in the financial sector.
The largest economic centers
The largest cities, political and economic centers of the region include: Los Angeles, San Francisco (USA), Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing (China), Taipei (Taiwan), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Jakarta (Indonesia) ), Sydney, Melbourne (Australia), Singapore.
Sometimes the city of Moscow is also called among the centers. Although it is located far from the Pacific Ocean, it is nonetheless the capital and largest metropolis of the territorially largest Pacific power - Russia.
The role of Russia in the Asia-Pacific region
The importance of Russia for Asia-Pacific cooperation can hardly be overestimated. She is one of the leaders of the SCO organization, which also includes China, which is one of the largest integration projects in the region. Also, the Russian Federation is the largest country by area of those that are part of the Asia-Pacific region. Russia was also honored to be among the ten largest economies in the world in terms of GDP, which further emphasizes its importance in the region.
The Russian government places the greatest hopes on expanding cooperation with another leader in the region, China.
Development forecasts
Further development of the Asia-Pacific region depends on many economic and political factors. At the same time, we can now say that the region has become one of the leading in the global economy. And in the future, it is planned to move the world economic centers from Western Europe and the eastern coast of the USA to the Asia-Pacific region.
By 2030, countries in the region are expected to increase total GDP by 70%.
The value of the region
The Asia-Pacific region is one of the three largest world economic regions, along with East American and West European. But, unlike these regions, where business activity is gradually dying away, Asia-Pacific, on the contrary, is a very promising place where the main economic processes are moving.
According to most experts, it is the Asia-Pacific region that is the center that in the near future will completely dominate the global economy.