New Interregionalism? The EU and East Asia

Abstract This article examines the types of region–to–region dialogue evident in relations among the states of the European Union and East Asia, with a particular focus on ASEM and the EU–ASEAN dialogue. It examines how the EU utilizes interregionalism as one mechanism for managing economic and political relations with a growing yet disparate region. For the states of East Asia, ASEM offers a means of dealing collectively with twenty–five European states, provides a first–hand examination of the practices of regional integration and establishes a framework in which East Asia can present itself as a regional political and economic entity and realize the ‘third side’ in a global triangle of regional blocs. Building upon a particular historical trajectory of relations among the states of the EU and East Asia, ASEM represents an important space for articulating not only the nature of region, but also the role of non–state actors, which have increasingly come to occupy a significant position in transnational affairs.