A Study On Regional Cooperation In The New Four States Of ASEAN

Recent years have seen a continuous economic increase of Cambodia, Laos,Myanmar, and Vietnam (hereafter referred to as CLMV) as well as the growth of theirinternational competitiveness and influence, while one of the important reasons forthis increasing tendency is that CLMV have been actively promoting regionalcooperation. The research on CLMV regional cooperation in terms of cooperationcontents, forms, promoting and constraining factors will be an importantenlightenment for developing countries and other regional cooperation organizationsin the world. Therefore, this thesis will focus on CLMV as research object and carryout in-depth exploration through two aspects in terms of outer frame and inner form.As for outer framework of regional cooperation, this thesis underlines three mosttypical regional cooperation frameworks that CLMV have participated: ASEANregional cooperation framework, the great Mekong sub-regional cooperationframework and CLMV regional cooperation framework, which belong to threedifferent tiers respectively. Through analyses upon these regional cooperationframeworks, this thesis has come up with a new path for CLMV regional cooperation.In terms of inner forms of regional cooperation, the specific forms of CLMV regionalcooperation appear to be three different dimensions: economic corridor, specialeconomic zones, and industrial clusters. The study on these cooperation forms hasrevealed their internal connections and has showed how CLMV promote domesticeconomy through regional cooperation.This thesis also focuses on the internal and external conditions for the regionalcooperation of CLMV. Located on the junction of three biggest Asian markets, thereare rich natural resources as well as cheep and abundant labors in CLMV, which turnsto be a favorable foundation for regional cooperation. However, CLMV have to drawexternal support to exploit their resource endowment. At last, this paper illustrates thesignificant influence that CLMV regional cooperation have on neighboring countriesincluding China, ASEAN, and industrial structure in east Asia.As for China, it is ofgreat significance for China’s geostrategy, energy security and international marketdevelopment if China promotes its cooperation with CLMV...