The global economy’s trajectory toward instability has been evident since Trump 1.0. A second Trump presidency will likely amplify protectionism, strategic competition and global disorder. This edition of East Asia Forum Quarterly examines how Asia can respond, emphasising the region’s role in defending multilateralism, addressing climate change and ensuring global stability.

ASEAN's rise as the cornerstone of regional diplomacy and security in the 1990s may have seemed improbable, but it was crucial. Today, a shifting regional geopolitical landscape challenges ASEAN’s relevance. Great power competition and waning global political commitment to multilateral arrangements threaten its role as East Asia’s 'steering committee'. This edition of East Asia Forum Quarterly explores how ASEAN can maintain its centrality, calling for proactive leadership and stronger regional cooperation.

Key in globalisation, supply chains connect producers to consumers across nations and specialisations. Recently, geopolitics, the COVID-19 pandemic and European conflicts have reshaped these networks. Supply chains are increasingly influenced by statecraft and protectionism, moving away from multilateral cooperation. This issue of East Asia Forum Quarterly explores the rapid transformation of supply chains, the paradox of digital innovation in trade and the consequences of economic isolationism.

It’s back: the past decade has seen a remarkable resurgence of industrial policy in the developed world. Geopolitical fragmentation and resultant suspicions of international trade, the politically induced adoption of second-best industrial policies to address carbon emissions, and the use of manufacturing incentives sparked by fears of deindustrialisation and widening inequality risk tit-for-tat protectionism and further splintering of the global economy.

As ASEAN and Japan celebrate the 50th anniversary of their official relationship, the challenge to redefine the goals and purpose of this relationship is now pressing. Great power rivalry, regional power relativities, and sweeping political and economic disruption have injected new dynamics and exposed serious vulnerabilities. With ASEAN member states and Japan each facing their own domestic challenges, the opportunity presents itself for a more 'equal' partnership that is able to 'co-create' a regional economy and society, from paternalistic origins.

Global trade stands at a crucial crossroads. The multilateral trading system that underpinned globalisation for three-quarters of a century is being pulled apart by big power politics and the way forward is fogged in mistrust. Global growth is projected to decline this year and remain anaemic. Inflation, the rising rivalry between the world’s two largest economies, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine weigh heavily on the global outlook. The European war underscores how quickly the trading ties between nations might be undone and weaponised.

The world’s two largest economies, the United States and China, are locked in a trade war, complicating policy choices internationally. These choices are sharper for the countries of East and Southeast Asia than they are elsewhere, because the multilateral rules-based economic order on which East Asian economic integration and cooperation is built is under threat.

Once, the internet and world wide web promised a world of seamless connectivity for anyone with access to a digital device. As connectivity costs fell, the workplace became mobile, and digitalisation transformed industrial sectors, the laissez-faire agenda of digital developmentalists appeared to align with and promote democratic ideals. That was then. Today, even as cloud computing and digital transformation agendas have become mainstream, it is clear the threat of digital fragmentation must be actively addressed.

This timely special issue of the International Review of Environmental History focuses on animals and epidemics in modern East Asia. The global pandemic of Covid-19 has forced us to think more deeply about the interrelations between animals, both human and non-human, and epidemics. Moreover, the intense attention on East Asia in this context demands that we study the region in the thematic matrix of health, environment, animals, sociocultural traditions, and geopolitics. This collection comprises two parts.