Running Head: Geography 1

Geography Assignment Three

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Question One

Having to discuss about the East Asia international political economy, we must first

consider looking at Japan as the serious post-war challenge from East Asia to the American

economic hegemony. It is also known as the crisis of Fordism from the mid-1970s all the way

through 1980s, since an earlier wave of methods of mass production and also economies of scale

would be hard for it to provide the competitive edge towards the incumbent firms and

corporations that was found in the advanced industrialized economies. Filled with multiple

emergences of the Asian new industrialized economies together with the 1973 oil crisis, Japan

rise triggered what was later considered as flexible specialization, post-Fordism and

globalization.

The meteoric rise of Japan was viewed as a major economic challenge towards the US

and the other OECD countries which coincided together with the perceived relative decline of

the US hegemony. This finding was perceived as being so significant making Robert Gilpin

name Benjamin Cohen (2007) as one of the pioneers and giants of the American school of

IPE and give special attention towards the rise of Japan in his 1987 magisterial work. According

to Gilpin he stated that I emphasize the meteoric rise of Japan and its challenge to the liberal

international economic order. The remarkable shift in the locus of the center of the world

economy from the Atlantic to the pacific in the closing decades of the twentieth century is given

special attention. Having the outcome of the conflicts towards the developments in the Nichibei

economy will affect the future of the US economy and get to shape the international political

economy.
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According to the ambition of the economist who examine the East Asian success their

major goal is to identify the set of public policies which will promote the economic growth there

and also elsewhere. Opinions vary differently therefore one should not be surprised concerning

the effect of public policy and the selective government interventions towards stimulating the

economic growth. These opinions fall into three schools and free markets being the first which

emphasizes that the government should only get the basic rights and should oppose any other

kind of government intervention. The government is assigned both microeconomic and

macroeconomic function. The microeconomic aspect is whereby the government makes sure that

there are property rights, law and order and also have adequate provision of public goods. It

should ensure that it avoids the high tax rates, price controls and some other distortions of the

relative prices.

On the macroeconomic aspect the government should make sure that there is stable and

low inflation, avoid excessive budget deficits, promote the integrity of the financial and banking

system, provide for open markets and strive for stable and realistic rates of exchange. Selective

intervention is the second issue which embraces the point that the government gets the basic

right but also advocates its policies towards the developing countries. The other issue is the

agnostic which denies any possibility of being any conclusion towards the effects of public

policy or of selective interventions on the economic growth.

Question Two

Chinas has had strong relationships within ESEAN leaders which makes the reflections

of this country consistent diplomatic and economic efforts that it will support its neighbors and

mostly the poorer countries like Vietman, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. President Obama met
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with the ASEAN leaders in APEC forum in Singapore whereas the China president who also

attended the forum made a visit to Malaysia which he marked as the first time that a Chinese

president is going there for the past 15 years. This summit with the ASEAN leaders indicated the

countrys intention to tighten the relationship in the region since its influence has been on the rise

for the past few decades as China has been significantly on the rise.

Since 2004 China has been Vietnams biggest trade partner and a key investor whereby

its investment has helped create more than 53000 jobs contributing to revenue of more than $1

billion. In Myanmar, China is therefore constructing a 481-kilometre pipeline that will help

facilitate the speed delivery of the Middle East oil which is shipped through the Indian Ocean. It

is also the largest foreign investor and the closest friend of a regime which has been isolated by

the West. They are also diplomatic exchanges that exist often between China and Cambodia like

when Premier Wen visited Cambodia in 2006 and this has made China give Cambodia hundreds

of millions of dollar worth of aid and as loans, which includes $200 million towards the end of

last year in order to rebuild the country infrastructure.

Hence China has also established $10 billion investment fund for the Southeast Asia

which will be used towards the infrastructure projects like construction, energy and resources,

information and communications. There is the modern network of roads and other transport

which links through Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia which is already under construction and

hence linking China to the Southeast Asia economies. Due to the historical interest of China in

the Southeast Asia it has made US contribute to strengthening the economic ties which will

eventually help reduce the trade barriers within ASEAN together with Asian neighbors like

Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

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In the Asean meetings, the territorial positioning of China in the South-east Asia will

ensure that it has legitimate rights to give its regional and national interests. The Chinas public

debates together with its political rhetoric with the US concerning the South China sea shows

that Beijing views its claims as part of the regional border which is a subject in the regional

dialogue with the Asean states. Therefore the regional order claims tend to explain the public

assertion which the South-east Asia has developed to a geopolitical turf just like the US Monroe

Doctrine behaved towards the South Americans. China having the cartographic claim towards

the territory underscores the important nature of how the Western powers in 19th century made

claims towards the large territories in South-east Asia through mapping territorial areas as their

crown lands.

Question Three

Demography, history and culture of the Australian people it has considered to have been

shaped by Australias size, geographical remoteness, ancient soils and landscapes, arid climate,

flora and fauna, and bountiful mineral and energy resources. Due to all these influences they

have resulted to a rich and in other ways to having a unique geological heritage hence making

Australia clearly a lucky country. Australia now has a population of more than 22 million people

since it is a diverse nation and having originated from more than 200 other countries. This

country covers 27.45 million km2 of earth which includes the continents mainland and offshore

extensions, its numerous offshore territories, marine zones and also a larger part of Antarctica.

The geology of Australia has contributed to a big influence towards the welfare and also

the lives of the Australian people and also on their economic and environmental sustainability.

Therefore the Australias spectacular geology developed as a result of its deep-time roots in the
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Archean to the now present. Australia has also assembled and gotten to interact with other

continents in order for it to produce a rich geology, flora, fauna and landscape. Hence Australia

as a nation continent has been well mapped and has numerous geological and geophysical maps

and datasets which are available to advance our basic understanding towards the continent.

All the important features of the evolution of life have contributed to having shaped the

flora and fauna on every continent that one intends to explore although each one has its own

peculiarities. They are perceived as large because of the big differences in every continents

tectonic and climatic history which are coupled up with the timing of evolutionary events.

Therefore every continent is seen as unique in its own way. Comparing to all other continents,

Australia is considered as special, at least in part since it has recent relative is isolated from all

other large continental masses which is coming to an end soon. Also the change in biosphere has

contributed to a profound effect towards the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.

The island continent of Australia had its emergent from the supercontinent of Gondwana

which had its impacts on the history of Australians resources, economy and society. The energy

sources of coal, oil and gas found in Australia came from Gondwana breaking up and Australia

has been largely dependent on these fossil fuels. This isolation that was contributed by the

breakup is significant on how life has greatly developed in Australia and shaped the society due

to the response to the opportunities of distance. The maritime character of Australia has

developed due to the reliance of the coastal seas as means of transport and also trade during

European settlement to the present times where the coast is setting for the most Australians

population, industry, tourism and recreation. The nations geological history of the coast and its

distinctive configuration, landforms and environmental regimes has led to production of unique,

highly diverse continental margin.

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Question Four

On the 28th July 1994 the United Nations General Assembly basically adopted a

resolution on the agreement to implement part ix of UNCLOS which helped to solve most of the

existing concerns towards the deep seabed mining. Well neither the Convention nor the

agreement has provided any solution for the many issues that deal with the law of the sea. Over

the past two decades, the global international community has seen a major growth towards the

marine regionalism which includes the Asian pacific region which can be described as the area

of the pacific , north and south of the equator, bordered to the west by the countries of east Asia,

south east Asia and Australia. It includes the whole of East Asia, the ASEAN countries, the

independent pacific islands and Australasia. It extends to the southern Ocean, but not to

Antarctica.

In 1991, they were two conferences which were held in Australia in order to deal with the

marine and maritime issues of UNCLOS which had the impact towards the Asian pacific region.

According to Edward P. Wolfers he outlined at issues raised for south pacific islands countries as

they get to pertain UNCLOS. These organizations got to deal with the navigational issues like

the rights of passage, international co-operation which involves fisheries and the combating

marine pollution. These organizations sheds light on the environmental problems that the small

islands developing states of the pacific realm gets to encounter.

This organization makes the regional efforts to help protect the marine environment like

the pacific realm islands together with other multilateral and bilateral environmental

conventions. Therefore the fate of these islands found on the pacific realm environment should

not depend only on the actions of the pacific countries but should also rely on the industrialized
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countries and their operations of their transnational corporations towards the regions which are

around the Pacific Rim. Also there was emergence of the new regime of fisheries as customary

law since the formation of UNCLOS. These was examined in reference to the south pacific

island states but excluding Australia and New Zealand although it included non-self-governing

territories which took part as observers to the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency Convention.

This analysis has impact on factors like legal, organizational and economic which lead to

implementation of UNCLOS in these regions. UNCLOS has also helped to solve the conflicts

that have been there and the multiple current problems that are based upon the conservation and

the resource management which are within the high seas regime including the pacific regions.

Therefore it aid in solving the deep seabed resources, controlling the marine pollution and

elimination of marine boundaries. Therefore the provision of UNICLOS has helped gain a lot of

regional accomplishment and also has resulted to the growth of marine regionalism in the islands

of the pacific realm.

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References

Goh, E. (2016). Rising China's Influence in Developing Asia.

Grey Fry, S. T. (2015). The New Pacific Diplomacy.

Indermit Singh Gill, H. J. (2007). An East Asia Renaissance.

Nobuharu Yokokawa, K. Y. (2016). The Rujevanation of Political Economy.

Sutter, R. G. (2007). China's Rise in Asia: Promises and Perils.

Vicente Berdeyes, J. W. (2015). Neoliberalism, Economic Radicalism, and the Normalization of

Violence.

Zhu, Z. (2015). China's New Diplomacy: Rationale, Strategies and Significance.