First published in 1992, Pacific Asia in the 1990s explores the main economic and political trends among the Pacific Asian countries in the second half of the 1980s. It suggests where the potential problems lie and where the opportunities are.

This book is an unusual collaborative venture in that it combines the complementary viewpoints of a Japanese author, a Malaysian author and someone from outside the region. The authors examine the broad patterns of economic interdependence and security linkages both within the region and with external partners, then analyse in detail the political economy of the newly industrializing economies, the patterns of complementarity and competition in Southeast Asia, the dilemma of reform or retrenchment facing China and the smaller regional socialist states, and the paradoxes of Japan's attempts to define its role in the region and the world.