Transcending the Leadership Problem in East Asian Cooperation and the Provision of Regional Public Goods

　　Abstract: East Asian cooperation developed quickly following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, but soon stumbled over the problem of regional leadership. This article introduces the concept of the provision of regional goods, and analyzes the relationship between the provision of regional public goods and regional leadership. The conditional, constrained and severable nature of the provision of regional public goods implies that such goods have characteristics similar to related regional leadership. At present, within the “10+” framework guiding multilateral cooperation in East Asia, ASEAN’s leadership position and the sharing of rights established within the East Asia Monetary Fund are both examples of how to effectively overcome the leadership problem. In the near future, the most urgent regional public good needed by East Asian states will be a regional market. In establishing such a market, it will be critical to integrate the severability of public goods, and establish an East Asia Free Trade Zone based on functional cooperation. This will be beneficial in transcending challenges to East Asian cooperation resulting from leadership competition, and enable the deepening of regional cooperation.