The Pacific region is the largest market in the world, and its potential is far from exhausted. Moreover, according to the forecasts of advanced experts, in the future the share of this region in the world market will only expand. Let's find out in more detail what the Asia-Pacific region is. Let us dwell separately on the prospects and forecasts of its development.
Territory of the region
First of all, let's find out what the Asia-Pacific region is in territorial terms. Traditionally, the countries that are included in this region are the states located on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, as well as Mongolia and Laos.
The entire Asia-Pacific region can be conditionally divided into 4 regions, which correspond to the parts of the world where the states included in it are located: North American, South American, Oceanic and Asian. In addition, the Asian region is conditionally divided into two sub-regions: North Asia and Southeast Asia.
The North American area includes the following countries: Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Pica, Panama.
The South American area includesStates: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile.
The North Asian sub-region includes the following countries: PRC (China), Mongolia, Japan, North Korea, Republic of Korea, Republic of China (Taiwan), Russia. The countries of the Asia-Pacific region of this particular group occupy the largest territory, and in total have the highest population.
Southeast Asia Subarea includes the following countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, Brunei, Thailand. Many experts include here Myanmar and Nepal. In addition, in some cases, India also acts as a country that is part of the Asia-Pacific region, but given that the cases of including India in this region by specialists are still quite rare, and the country itself does not have access to the Pacific Ocean, we will not consider it in as a subject of the Asia-Pacific region.
The oceanic region includes many states of Oceania, most of which are quite small. Among the largest countries, both in territorial and economic terms, this region should be distinguished Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Smaller states: Fiji, Solomon Islands, Palau, Nauru, Federation of Micronesia, Vanuatu, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa. This also includes many dependent territories, such as Guam, Tokelau, French Polynesia and others.
History of the region
To understand more exactly what the Pacific region is, you need to delve into its history.
China can be considered the oldest state formation in this region. He deserves to be considered onefrom the cradles of civilization on earth. The first state formations arose here in the III millennium BC. e. This makes China (Asia-Pacific region) the oldest state, like Egypt and Mesopotamia - the oldest civilizations of the Middle East.
Later, states appeared in Southeast Asia (the largest of them was the empire of Kambujadesh), in Japan and Korea. China, on the other hand, became a territory on which various empires were successively replaced, and a kind of cultural and economic center of the region. Even after the formation of the great Eurasian empire of the Mongols in the 13th century, which united the lands of the mainland from Russia to the Pacific Ocean (in fact, the western part of the modern APR), the Chingizids made Khanbalik (now Beijing) their main capital, and adopted Chinese traditions and culture.
Russia first came to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the 17th century. Since then, the interests of this state have been inextricably linked with the region. Already in 1689, the Nerchinsk Treaty was signed - the first official document between Russia and China, which marked the delimitation of the zones of influence of these countries in the region. Over the following centuries, the Russian Empire expanded its zone of influence in the Far East, which allows us to call the modern Russian Federation an unconditional part of the Asia-Pacific region.
State formations on the western coast of the American continent, which, paradoxically, is the eastern part of the Asia-Pacific region, appeared much later than in Asia. The formation of the Peruvian "kingdom" of Cuzco, from which the famous Inca Empire arose in the 15th century, dates back to 1197 AD. The Aztec Empire in Mexico came even later.
But different parts of the huge region now known as the Asia-Pacific region were scattered during the period we spoke about above, and the inhabitants of the western coast of the Pacific Ocean did not know anything about the inhabitants of the east coast, and vice versa. The Asia-Pacific region began to gradually turn into a single whole only after the Great geographical discoveries of the XV-XVII centuries. It was then that Columbus discovered America, and Magellan made a trip around the world. Of course, the integration of the economy at the initial stages was rather slow, but nevertheless, already in the 16th century, the Philippines was included in the Spanish Viceroy alty of New Spain with a center in Mexico.
In 1846, after the cession of Oregon by Great Britain, one of the most rapidly developing states of that time, the United States, became a Pacific country. After the annexation of California two years later, the United States swept across the Pacific Ocean and soon became the leading power in the region, greatly influencing its economy and markets. It was after the expansion of the United States to the West Coast in the 19th century that the Pacific region began to acquire features of economic unity.
But more or less close to the modern political and economic appearance of the Asia-Pacific region acquired only after the colonial divisions of the XIX century, two world wars and the process of decolonization. During World War II, the Japanese Empire, relying on an alliance with HitlerGermany, tried to secure a dominant position in the region with the help of military force, but was defeated by the Allied forces.
Modernity
After World War II, like the rest of the world, the Asia-Pacific countries were actually divided into two political camps: the countries of the socialist model of development and the capitalist one. In the first camp, the leaders were the USSR and China (although there were also ideological conflicts between these countries), while the USA dominated in the second. In addition to the United States, the most economically developed countries of the Asia-Pacific region from the capitalist camp were Canada, Japan and Australia. After a certain time, it became clear that, despite the presence of many shortcomings, the capitalist (Western) model of economic development has established itself as more successful.
Even defeated after the Second World War, Japan, which chose the Western model of development, thanks to US assistance, in a fairly short period of time has become one of the most economically developed countries not only in the region, but in the world as a whole. This phenomenon has been called the "Japanese economic miracle". In the late 80s, the economy of this country even threatened to take the first place in the world in terms of GDP, but this did not happen due to the economic crisis.
In addition, since the 60s of the XX century, the Four Asian Tigers have shown very high economic performance. So called the following countries: the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Their level of development even exceeded the level of some Western European countries. Thailand andPhilippines. But in the countries of the socialist camp, in particular, in Vietnam, Mongolia, Laos, Cambodia and the DPRK, the economy developed much worse.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the political situation in the region changed dramatically. Even states such as China abandoned the pure socialist model of the economy, which, however, just allowed the latter to become one of the leaders of the world economy in the future. Similar changes, although not so successfully, have taken place in some other socialist countries included in the Asia-Pacific region. Politics was sidelined in Vietnam. There, despite the continued dominance of Marxist ideology, as in China, elements of a market economy were introduced. Cambodia has abandoned the socialist doctrine altogether.
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia lost its leading position in the region both economically and politically, but since the beginning of the 2000s, demonstrating significant economic growth, it has largely been able to regain the lost.
The Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 de alt a significant blow to the region's economy. The Four Asian Tigers suffered the most. The crisis abruptly stopped their economic growth. A powerful blow was also de alt to the Japanese economy. It was this crisis that became one of the reasons for the default in Russia since 1998. Many of the current problems in the Asia-Pacific region have their origins in these crisis events.
China's economy also suffered, but, incompared with the above countries, not so much, which soon allowed to resume growth at an even faster pace. In 2014, China's economy came out on top in the world, overtaking the United States in terms of GDP and purchasing power parity. China remains the leader in this indicator at the present time, although so far it is still inferior to the United States in terms of the nominal value of GDP. In addition, goods from the PRC now dominate the Asia-Pacific market, mainly due to their relatively low cost.
The 2008 global economic crisis also had a negative impact on the region's economy, but not as badly as the 1997 Asian crisis. Thus, the Asia-Pacific region is today one of the most powerful world economic regions, along with the east coast of America and Western Europe.
Leading countries
Next, we will talk about which countries currently dominate this region, and with what resources they do it.
The fact that the Asia-Pacific region is a leader in the global economy is proved by the fact that three countries in this region (USA, China and Japan) take first place in the world in terms of nominal GDP. In terms of GDP (PPP), China and the United States are leading. The third place is occupied by India, which by some experts also belongs to the Asia-Pacific region. The top ten countries in this indicator include countries such as Japan, Russia and Indonesia.
The most populated country in the world is also one of the states of the Asia-Pacific region - China. To date, the population of thiscountry has passed the 1.3 billion mark. The top ten also includes such countries of the region as the USA and Indonesia. Russia and Japan.
The Asia-Pacific region includes the four largest countries in the world by area: Russia, Canada, China and the United States. In addition, Australia (6th place) is among the ten largest countries.
APR as part of the global market
If we consider the totality of the economies of all countries included in the Asia-Pacific region, then we can say with confidence that this region is the largest world market, with which, taking into account all the indicators of the economies of countries such as the USA, China and Russia, the European market cannot compete at this stage. Ahead of Europe, the Asia-Pacific region has made a kind of breakthrough. Experts predict an even greater gap between the total economy of the EU and other European countries and the economy of the Asia-Pacific region in the future.
Now the market in the Asia-Pacific region is especially in demand for products that are manufactured using the latest electronic technologies.
Collaboration and integration
Interstate cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region plays a rather significant role in coordinating relations between countries. Integration between various countries of the region is expressed in the creation of various economic and political associations.
The most significant of them are: ASEAN political and economic organization (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore,Myanmar), SCO (Russia, China, India, Pakistan and a number of Central Asian countries of the CIS), Asia-Pacific Cooperation (APEC) (21 countries in the region, including the USA, China and Russia).
In addition, there are a number of smaller organizations, which, unlike the ones mentioned above, do not cover all areas of economic activity of states, but specialize in certain sectors. For example, the Asian Development Bank specializes in the financial sector.
Major economic centers
The largest cities, political and economic centers of the region include: Los Angeles, San Francisco (USA), Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing (China), Taipei (Taiwan), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea)), Jakarta (Indonesia), Sydney, Melbourne (Australia), Singapore.
Sometimes the city of Moscow is also called among the centers. Although it is located far from the Pacific Ocean, it is nevertheless the capital and largest metropolis of the territorially largest Pacific power - Russia.
Russia's role in the Asia-Pacific region
The importance of Russia for Asia-Pacific cooperation can hardly be overestimated. It is one of the leaders of the SCO organization, which also includes China, which is one of the largest integration projects in the region. Also, the Russian Federation is the largest country in terms of area among those that are part of the Asia-Pacific region. Russia is also honored to be among the ten largest economies in the world in terms of GDP, which further emphasizes its importance in the region.
The Russian government pins its greatest hopes on expanding cooperation with China, another leader in the region.
Development Forecasts
The further development of the Asia-Pacific region depends on many economic and political factors. At the same time, it can already be said now that the region has become one of the leaders in the global economy. And in the future, it is planned to move the world economic centers from Western Europe and the east coast of the United States to the territory of the Asia-Pacific region.
By 2030, the countries of the region are expected to increase their total GDP by 70%.
Region value
The Asia-Pacific region is one of the three largest economic regions in the world, along with Eastern America and Western Europe. But, unlike these regions, where business activity is gradually fading away, the Asia-Pacific region, on the contrary, is a very promising place where the main economic processes are moving.
According to most experts, it is the Asia-Pacific region that is the center that will completely dominate the world economy in the near future.
