Regional Financial Arrangements (RFAs) in East Asia emerged in response to the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) of 1997–1998, which revealed significant vulnerabilities in the region’s financial safety nets. In 2000, the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) was launched, establishing a network of bilateral swap arrangements (BSAs) among ASEAN+3 member economies (China, Japan, and South Korea). While this arrangement represented a pioneering step toward regional financial cooperation, its design was limited by the absence of a dedicated economic surveillance mechanism and a lack of institutional capacity. Drawing lessons from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008–2009, regional policymakers—ministries of finance and central banks—pursued institutional enhancements to strengthen the resilience and credibility of East Asia’s RFAs. This presentation examines these enhancements, the principal challenges and strategic imperatives confronting East Asian RFAs in the contemporary global financial order, and the interaction between regional mechanisms and broader shifts in the international political economy, including the prospective reorientation of US economic policy toward East Asia.
