East Asian states’ bandwagoning toward China varies with shared Confucian culture

Evidence

While ASEAN moved slowly, the yen bloc remained a dream, Japan wavered, and the EAEC did not get off the ground, economic interaction in East Asia nonetheless increased dramatically. This expansion was rooted in the cultural ties among East Asian Chinese communities. These ties gave rise to “continuing informal integration” of a Chinese-based international economy, comparable in many respects to the Hanseatic League, and “perhaps leading to a de facto Chinese common market” (see pp. 168-74). In East Asia, as elsewhere, cultural commonality has been the prerequisite to meaningful economic integration. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 363 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Overseas Chinese business networks drive East Asian economic integration; China structures its relations as concentric civilization zones with a Han core; Southeast Asian states align with China partly based on Confucian cultural affinity — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 641 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Chinese diaspora cultural ties, not states, drove East Asian economic integration. #complicates (0.72) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 363