Japan is in the process of developing much closer economic ties with its Asian neighbours, at both the government and private-sector levels. While there is little official support in Japan for the creation of any formal regional integration scheme, there is evidence of Japanese behaviour leading to what can be termed soft regionalisation with Japan as the dominant actor. A major increase in direct investment, supported by large amounts of foreign aid helping to create the necessary infrastructure for that investment, is the principal vehicle for the increasing Japanese involvement in Asia. Regional trade flows have shown less of a shift toward Japan, but that could change in the 1990s.

The developing nations of Asia have been quite receptive to this rapid increase in the Japanese economic presence, and would be quite foolish to restrict the inflow of foreign aid and direct investment. Recipient countries should recognize however that the co-ordination between ...