The Asian scene

The number of free trade agreements (FTAs) notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO) had grown to 285 as of February 2004. By 2005, the number of free trade agreements (FTAs) notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO) exceeded 300. East and Southeast Asia have been the most active in the last half decade or so, with individual countries like Singapore and Thailand being the most active in Southeast Asia and Japan being the most active in East Asia. On the East Asian front, China has also concluded its two Closer Economic Partnership Agreements with Hong Kong and Macao in June and October 2003, respectively, as well as the goods agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in November 2004. Japan, in addition to its FTAs with Singapore, the Philippines, and Mexico, has further ongoing negotiations with Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and also ASEAN. Korea has, in turn, concluded its FTA with Chile in 2003, and is now negotiating with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) while Taiwan had earlier concluded an FTA with Panama. ASEAN as a whole has also been pursuing FTAs,1 particularly in East and South Asia and with the Closer Economic Relations (CER) nations of Australia and New Zealand; all this is in addition to the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) itself. Such activity in Southeast Asia is not, however, confined to intra-regional or intra-sub-regional trade.