The Korean Times

Northeast Asia should enhance harmony and cooperation

As in most summits, what is at stake is the economy and politics.

Among the many changes that have occurred since China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) established relations 15 years ago, the most visible is trade. The two countries are pushing to expand two-way trade to $200 billion, almost one-third of the ROK's total, well ahead of the originally targeted 2012. A successful settlement of a bilateral FTA would help attain this goal.

We hope the official visits to Seoul and Tokyo by China's popular, pragmatic leader would serve as an occasion to cement trilateral reconciliation and cooperation in genuine ways.

Chosun Ilbo

Should ROK rush into free-trade talks with China?

The ROK's volume of trade with China was $118 billion in 2006, 1.5 times higher than with the United States ($76.8 billion).

China's average tariff rate is 9.8 percent, 6.5 times that of the US (1.5 percent). Thus, if tariffs are abolished between the ROK and China, the economic effects would be seven to eight times those of the ROK-US FTA.

The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy estimates that if the ROK and China conclude an FTA, ROK's GDP would increase 3.17 percent in seven to 10 years, much more than the effects of FTAs with the United States (1.99 percent), the EU (3.04 percent) and Japan (1.05 percent).

By industries, the ROK would benefit in automobiles, steel and heavy chemicals, but it would be dealt a blow in low value-added goods such as agricultural and fishery products, textiles and timber, where China has the advantage.

JoongAng Daily

Excerpts from an article by Ahn Yin-hay, a professor of political science at Korea University:

Close cooperation is required to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

And rather than competing with the ROK, China should put emphasis on cooperation with us in dealing with the nuclear issue. The two countries will then be able to cooperate over all issues of disarmament in Northeast Asia, including a multilateral security cooperation scheme for the region that can now be accelerated, based on the Six-Party Talks.

As the (Chinese) premier said, there is no territorial issue between the countries.

However, the two sides should embrace each other's different interpretations of historical issues and attempt to come to a shared understanding of historical facts.

In addition, we should refrain from escalating the differences in the interpretation of history into a political conflict. By sharing a "vision for the future", we should make every effort to pursue our common interests.

If we study together the history of our many ethnicities, which have existed in Northeast Asia through millennia, and broaden our recognition of each other's ethnic bases, then historical issues should not be causes for conflict, but a foundation for cooperation.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/11/2007 page2)