The East Asian region has suffered from a certain lack of confidence after the regional financial crisis of 1997-98. The earlier hubris following the apparent success of the ‘East Asian Miracle’ evaporated with the East Asian debacle. This came several years after the disastrous ‘Japanese Big Bang’, which was also caused by ill-considered financial liberalization. East Asian developments, since then, especially greater regional cooperation, offer interesting lessons about its potential limitations.

The author concludes that the biggest problem in East Asia is relatively poor understanding of and little agreement on past successes as well as failures. This has meant that post-crisis economic liberalization policy reforms have sometimes continued despite increasing international criticisms of the Washington Consensus. There is also far too little meaningful regional cooperation in East Asia cognizant of the region’s diversity, characteristics and environment.

For a meaningful cooperation to develop, the countries need to create the conditions for continued economic growth and transformation to sustain economic development and to ensure greater justice in the region by reducing inequalities. With greater global awareness, they need to address not only disparities within countries, but also among countries in the region, and between the region and the rest of the world.