Mobility and Connectivity in Asia

Though globalization has slowed down globally, the prospect does not seem so dire. The number of Trans-Eurasia Express Trains departing from Urumchi, China, toward Europe and the Middle East in December 2020 has increased compared to that of 2019. The goods traffic from China to Europe via nations in the Eurasian Economic Union (Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, etc.) from 2012 to 2016 doubled each year. While the absolute amount of goods is not so high, it is constantly growing, and the Eurasian region is unifying to that extent. Of course, it is far too difficult to speak of higher connectivity in the Eurasian region and increased globazliation only with the increase in the number of trains and amount of goods crossing the Eurasian continent. This is only a single example that the connectivity in the Eurasian continent has been increasing in the past 30 years (Libman and Vinokurov). No matter the form, the economic and social interconnection is being progressed in Asian and Eurasian regions.

This volume examines the movement of connectivity and unification in the Asian region. Four pieces of writing are on regions such as Southeast Asia and Central Asia, and two are on the exchanges and connectivity of Korea to the Asian region. They especially discuss the specific countries and nations of the New Northern and New Southern Policies.