Asian Integration and the Global Economy: Economics of geopolitics

International economic and security policy is becoming more complex. The United States and China, the world's two largest economies and military superpowers are engaged in a trade war that threatens contagion and unravelling the world economy. The rest of the world is faced with hard choices in economic and strategic policy, none more so that those in East Asia as supply chains, prosperity and the multilateral rules based order are at risk. Countries like Japan and Australia need to balance their security interests with the United States against their economic interests with China and their stake in the global trade regime.

The economic dimension of national power and influence is central to the hard choices to be made on security policy. How can countries integrate economic and security policies for better economic and security outcomes?

Key issues that also need to be resolved include: how to work with and engage China, the United States and others to lift the economic and social benefit of international infrastructure investment; how to build the resilience of Asian and global institutions; how to avoid a digital iron curtain in deploying 5G technologies and the internet; and how to deepen commitment to a rules-based order.

The Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) and the Australian National University bring ongoing research and thinking to bear on these issues and examine different strategies and frameworks for integrating economic and security policy in dealing with the big issues that face our region today.