Historic Asian Enemies Are Uniting

China, Japan, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (asean) jointly called for “enhanced regional unity and cooperation” to combat the world’s “escalating trade protectionism” on Sunday.

Why it matters: Several of these nations—such as Japan, the Philippines and South Korea—are longtime allies of the United States. The fact that these nations are cozying up to China, despite centuries of bad blood, is an ominous sign for America.

Details: asean is comprised of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. With China, Japan and South Korea, the group is known as asean Plus Three.

asean Plus Three’s statement called for those involved to strengthen “regional financial cooperation.” It seeks to build this through the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (cmim).

• The cmim promotes financial stability and unification in the region by allowing member nations to tap currency swap lines in emergencies.

The statement introduced the Rapid Financing Facility, which enables asean Plus Three nations to access cmim funds without conditions should a financial crisis arise from sudden shocks.

We will promote greater intraregional trade and investment flows to strengthen the region’s resilience against external shocks.
—asean Plus Three

Prophesied unification: The Bible prophesied long ago that many Asian nations would unite in modern times. China and Japan are even mentioned specifically in the Bible, using their ancient names.

These developments show the surety of Bible prophecy.

Learn more: Read our free booklet Russia and China in Prophecy.