The Pacific Rim is a political and economic term used to designate the countries on the edges of the Pacific Ocean, as well as the various island nations within the region. The commercial, military and political center of the Pacific Rim is Honolulu, the capital of the State of Hawai'i, a region of the United States. Honolulu is the headquarters of various intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations of the Pacific Rim including the East-West Center and RIMPAC.

The region offers great diversity, with the economic dynamism of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, the technical know-how of Japan and California, the natural resources of Australia and the Russian Far East, the human resources of China and Indonesia and the agricultural productivity of New Zealand and Chile.

Some theorists opine that with the relative decline of the old centres of industrialism in Europe and eastern North America, the centre of world economic activity may re-focus on the Pacific Rim.

See also

• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
• Pacific Century
• Pacific Ring of Fire

Readings

Clausen, A. W. THE PACIFIC ASIAN COUNTRIES: A FORCE FOR GROWTH IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. Los Angeles: World Affairs Council, 1984. ED 244 852.

Cleveland, Harlan. THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC BASIN: A KEYNOTE ADDRESS. New Zealand: Conference on New Zealand's Prospects in the Pacific Region, 1983.

Gibney, Frank B., Ed. WHOLE PACIFIC CATALOG. Los Angeles, CA: l981.

"The Pacific Basin Alliances, Trade and Bases." GREAT DECISIONS 1987. New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1987. ED 283 743.

Rogers, Theodore S., and Robert L. Snakenber. "Language Studies in the Schools: A Pacific Prospect." EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVES 21 (1982): 12-15.

Wedemeyer, Dan J., and Anthony J. Pennings, Eds. TELECOMMUNICATIONS--ASIA, AMERICAS, PACIFIC: PTC 86. "Evolution of the Digital Pacific." Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Telecommunications Council: Honolulu, Hawaii, 1986. ED 272 147.

West, Philip, and Thomas Jackson. THE PACIFIC RIM AND THE BOTTOM LINE. Bloomington, Indiana, 1987.

External Link

• Teaching about the Pacific Rim