Competition in the Asia-Pacific Region

Abstract

Since the 90s, the Asia-Pacific region countries (APR), while experiencing a certain crisis, be-gan to move to trade and economic cooperation based on the principle of regionalizm and the global trading system. The APR countries-members of APEC – have shown an increased interest in strik-ing various kinds of bilateral and multilateral agreements. The liberalization of trade and investment as well as the promotion of free economic activity had become the main principles of the system. The prominent role of the APEC member countries in the world politics and economy is also evi-denced by the fact that this organization includes such major players in world politics as the United States, Russia and China, and their struggle for leadership seriously affects the transformation of the World System. Based on the APEC, consisting of twenty one Asia-Pacific countries, is an arena for economic cooperation in which global interests of the great powers as well as of other states are in play. Multilateral cooperation on economic and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region is formed under the influence of global trends, in which the political ambitions of great powers very often impede the implementation of successful economic projects.
Despite the fact that the APR has generally high rates of economic growth, thereby creating po-litical stability for individual countries in the region, nevertheless, constant competition between the influential states contributes to the intensification of divisions amongst them in the area of politics, which greatly affects the situation around the world.