TNAG-2597-FCO40-3785-Appointment-of-Chris-Patten-as-new-Governor-of-Hong-Kong--Ap-1992 — Page 32

the ANIES should be beneficial rather than harmful to these economies. The

"Boomerang Effect" facilitates economic transformation and therefore helps to foster

intra-regional specialization and complementarity. In addition, as domestic prices in the

home countries are high, the cheaper import generates a stabilization effect on prices.

C.

The Emergence of Sub-regional Economic Growth Zones

Some time has passed since the Pacific Basin concept were first discussed. The

three Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation conferences (APEC) have already provided

opportunities for representatives of governments to come together to discuss regional

economic cooperation. However, the conferences have revealed that the participants

were reluctant to lock intra-regional cooperation into a rigid institutional framework.

Many practical problems are not easy to solve. The Asia Pacific consists of

economies of great diversities in terms of history, language, culture, religion and

economic system. Consequently, the clash in interest is not just "economic", but

"political" and "ideological". However, in many cases, economic cooperation, if made

possible, would be highly beneficial to the participating parties mainly because of the

high degree of economic complementarity among them. In this connection, in the 1980s,

a "block building" approach involving sub-regional groupings has emerged along the

coastal areas of West Pacific, which is now termed as the West Pacific Economic

Corridor. The emergence of growth zones along the Corridor is driven by mutual needs.

and initiated by the private sector. The economic zones which involve the four ANIES

are: (1) the South China Economic Zone comprising Hong Kong, Taiwan and South

China (Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong), (2) the Growth Triangle comprising

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