國立臺灣大學政治科學論叢

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Derived  from  Karl  Polanyi’s  classic  work,  “the  Great  Transformation”  thisarticle argues that international currency and exchange systems are the products ofinteraction  between  international  powers  and  financial  interests.    Currency  is  notonly  the  symbol  of  national  sovereignty  but  also  a  base  for  the  competition  ofinternational powers. This paper analyzes the development of currency systems inAsia-Pacific and the opportunities and challenges of APEC from the point of viewof Polanyi.    Owing to the widening gap between social expectations of East Asiancountries and APEC’s U.S. dominated role, the East Asian Financial Crisis of 1997caused  tremendous  harm  to  APEC.  Under  pressure  from  the  triple  alliance-  US,IMF,  and  APEC,  with  regards  to  APEC’s  monetary  and  financial  issues,  ASEANand  China-led  East  Asian  countries  established  ASEAN  PLUS  THREE  (APT)  tocheck  and  counter-balance  the  predominance  of  U.S.  power  within  APEC.  APECencountered  severe  challenges  from  the  development  of  regional  monetary  andfinancial  systems  when  APT  actively  promoted  Chiang  Mai  Initiative  (CMI)  andAsian  Bond  Fund  (ABF).  Although  APEC  did  not  effectively  meet  a  lot  of  therequests from East Asian countries in the 1997 Financial Crisis, the innovation todeal with those related issues of APEC as a think-tank is still very important.