As the fastest growing region in the world, East Asia is an important partner for the European Union, particularly at a time of economic difficulty. Asian countries have weathered the recent financial and economic crisis much better than Europe and much better than initially anticipated, with China and several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recording relatively impressive growth rates. As a result, self-confidence has been growing in Asia while European economies feel increasingly challenged.

Concerns over becoming marginalized in the course of East Asian economic integration are driving a proactive regional trade agreement (RTA) strategy on the part of Taiwan. Three factors explain this concern: Competing visions of economic integration in the region from both the United States and China, the success of Korea in concluding a large number of important RTAs, and the increasing number of overlapping agreements that crowd out countries and economies such as Taiwan that do not have proactive RTA strategies.

Until the 1990s, economic ties between the European Union and Japan were marked largely by an atmosphere of trade tension. The main reason was the persistent trade surplus that Japan maintained. Over time, however, the improvement of the bilateral trade balance and the massive direct investment of Japan in the EU have alleviated these tensions.

Japanese firms are increasingly involved in various global business operations - not only in traditional international trade in goods, but also in offshore production and the new mode of globalization: offshore outsourcing.