What is Asia Pacific?
'''Asia-Pacific''' or '''Asia Pacific''' (abbreviated as '''Asia-Pac''', '''Asia Pac''', '''Apac''', '''APAC''', '''APNIC''', '''APJ''', '''JAPA''' or '''JAPAC''') is the part of the world in or near the Western [[Pacific Ocean]]. The region varies in size. It typically includes much of [[East Asia]], [[South Asia]], [[Southeast Asia]], [[Central Asia]], [[West Asia]] and [[Oceania]]. The term may also include [[Russia]] (on the North Pacific) and countries in North and South America which are on the coast of the Eastern [[Pacific Ocean]]; the [[Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation]] (APEC), for example, includes [[Canada]], [[Chile]], Russia, [[Mexico]], [[Peru]], and the [[United States]]. The term sometimes includes all of Asia and [[Australasia]] as well as the many Pacific island nations. Even though imprecise, the term has become popular since the late 1980s in commerce, finance and politics. It is popular even though the economies within the region are not the same.<ref>See for example {{cite journal| editor-last = Pan| editor-first = Hui|date=October 2004| title = Vonage and Cisco to sell phone equipment| journal = VoIP Monthly Newsletter| volume = 2| issue = 10| pages = 3| publisher = Information Gatekeepers Inc| access-date = 2011-12-15| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAb52_IQIIMC| quote = APEJ (Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan) and EEMEA (Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa) will grow their combined share of this figure from 17 percent to 22 percent during the same period, as North America's share adjusts from 53 percent to 46 percent.}}</ref>) == Areas == The Asia-Pacific region generally includes: {{columns|width=250px |col1 = '''[[Association of Southeast Asian Nations|ASEAN]]+''' / '''[[East Asian Summit|EAS]]''' *{{flag|Brunei}} *{{flag|Cambodia}} *{{flag|East Timor}} *{{flag|Indonesia}} *{{flag|Laos}} *{{flag|Malaysia}} *{{flag|Myanmar}} *{{flag|Philippines}} *{{flag|Singapore}} *{{flag|Thailand}} *{{flag|Vietnam}} *{{flag|China}