CJK Investment Agreements in East Asia: Building a Bifurcated Investment Regime.

In May 2012, China, Japan, and South Korea (CJK) signed a trilateral investment agreement-their first legal agreement on trilateral economic cooperation. This article argues that the diffusion of liberal investment rules in the trilateral agreement was circumscribed by China's market power. It examines the evolution of CJK policies on investment agreements and how these policies clashed in the negotiation of the trilateral deal. During the last decade, Japan and Korea have secured agreements with Southeast Asian nations that liberalize rules governing investment but they were unable to push China toward preestablishment liberalization in the trilateral agreement. As a result, there is a bifurcation of investment rules in East Asia with more liberal rules among Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia than any that the three share with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]