Future of East Asian Regionalism and Lessons from the European Experience

Current events in Europe make us doubt not only about the future of the EU but also the feasibility of learning from the EU for East Asian Regionalism. East Asia, which has not yet experienced the development of a proper community, is bound to learn from the only example of the European experience. The Five factors of 1) experience of war devastation and 2) Soviet threat and U.S. hegemony, 3) the role of core member countries, 4) identity and power disparity, and 5) political leadership are analyzed. In East Asia, none of these factors is ready to contribute to the development of regionalism. 1), 2), and 3) are the structural factors, and cannot be controlled by our will. We cannot predict when the emergence of great political leadership will occur. The historical reconciliation among the three countries of Korea, China, and Japan, and the creation of regional identity through it is the area we may rely upon. This also should be companied by democratization at the societal level. European integration took more than 50 years.