A global interpretation of the rise of the East Asian food import complex

The last quarter century explosion of consumer affluence in Japan, South Ko rea, Taiwan, and China, accompanied a new phase in the organization of the global food economy. It also conditioned the increasingly speculative capit al investments in the region. This paper argues that the restructuring of p roduction and consumption relations involved a movement away from the US-ce ntered bilateral food surplus regime, and toward a multilateral food regime based in WTO-led agricultural liberalization, and the corporate restructur ing of agriculture. The East Asian food import complex advances the neolibe ral project of global free trade, spawning agro-export zones throughout Sou theast Asia. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.