Appreciating similarities can help us grow together
Sharing similar values and traditions, we Chinese, Japanese and Koreans celebrate restraint as a virtue and believe the strength of our family, and thereby our society emanates primarily from our unity and shared destiny. It is also part of our custom to always treat others with respect and politeness, a custom that extends to our relations with neighbors. In fact, we have a similar saying, "close neighbors are dearer than distant relatives".
That neighbors will have differences and disputes is understandable under normal circumstances. But offering ourselves to be divided and taken advantage of by others is quite another matter, especially if it means risking our regional security.
Opportunities are there for us to grasp as long as we learn to agree to disagree, respect one another, and reach a common understanding that only by working together can we continue to do well, indeed excel. China's development is unstoppable and the country's non-expansionist and non-provocative nature is a fact that is supported by its actions throughout history.
Our Japanese and Korean neighbors should know that the fabricated "China threat" and the cooked-up tensions across the Taiwan Strait are nothing but the deliberate attempt of a certain external power to contain China's development and maintain its global hegemony and hold over other countries, including Japan and the Republic of Korea.
We have not forgotten how Japan's economic development was contained and controlled in the 1980s, and how recent developments in the semiconductor industry and the global supply chains have been disrupted, seriously affecting the export of chips to China by countries such as the ROK.
Why do we allow a country that keeps printing currency notes to sustain its economy, continues living on debt, and is now struggling to even honor its payment of interest, to maintain so many military bases in other countries including Japan and the ROK?
Why do we allow such a country to keep interfering in our internal and regional affairs, both overtly and covertly? Why do we allow it to disrespect international laws and call its own way of manipulating world affairs the "rules-based order"?
If indeed ongoing global developments are leading to the formation of a new multi-polar international system, we Asians must be the masters of our own destiny and not allow outside forces to divide and rule over us once again.
Now is the time for us to engage in dialogue, to put aside our respective prejudices toward one another, and to chart our way forward, because together, we Chinese, Japanese and Koreans do have the ability to create more economic miracles and amaze the world with our shared culture, our indisputable talent, our hard work, our entrepreneurial spirit which will continue to contribute to the advancement of human civilization.
The author of this part is Nelson Wong, vice-chairman and president of Shanghai Centre for RimPac Strategic and International Studies
Low-carbon cooperation between China and ROK
As the Republic of Korea has adopted policies to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent from the 2018 levels by 2030, the governments of the ROK and China should support ROK enterprises to continue to invest in China in order to develop low-carbon industries including the semiconductor and electronics sectors. And Chinese enterprises could consider working with their ROK counterparts to enter third-party markets and strengthen bilateral cooperation through the ROK's free economic zones.
China and the ROK can continue to work together in many fields, since the present ROK government has basically adopted the new-energy policy, except for the nuclear power policy, of the previous administration.
On its part, China should study the ROK's development model and the changes in its energy policy. Also, the two countries should consider developing cooperation zones to encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in the ROK, and work toward expanding cooperation in new energy, new materials, electric vehicles, tourism and cultural sectors.
Moreover, it is important for China's battery-making enterprises to consider investing in the ROK, while battery material firms boost their investment in the ROK to reduce the impact of the US' Inflation Reduction Act, and strengthen bilateral economic relations.
The author of this part is Jin Xu, a professor at Konkuk University in Seoul.
RCEP to boost regional trade and investment
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is the first free trade agreement that includes as original members China, Japan and the ROK, which account for more than 80 percent of the total GDP of the RCEP region.
The RCEP is expected to promote trade and investment, strengthen industrial supply chains in the three countries, and boost growth and stability in the region. It is also expected to strengthen the regional value chains, facilitate the transformation of production from a "flying-geese" development pattern, conceived by Japanese scholars in the first half of the 20th century and followed by Japan after the end of World War II to a "two-headed goose model", which is practiced by both China and Japan today. The RCEP will also help member states build an expanded world factory and a trilateral free trade zone.
However, the US-led "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity", which excludes China, will limit the opportunities for China, Japan and the ROK to build a complementary industrial chain for cutting-edge technology. It is more likely that two parallel industrial chains will develop, one involving the US, Japan and the ROK, and the other led by China and involving other developing countries.
To a certain extent, China, Japan and the ROK may continue to cooperate in some cutting-edge technology sectors, but the research and development sector may see less foreign investment and investors' confidence could wane due to the rising geopolitical risks in the region.
The author of this part is Ni Yueju, a researcher at the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Enterprises can hardly decouple
Japanese companies operating in China have gradually accepted the concept of a supply chain named "In China, For China", which means that products are made and sold in China. On the other hand, Tokyo has announced the "China Plus One" strategy which is aimed at relocating its sunset industries from China to other countries in a bid to reduce Japan's "over-dependence" on China where the cost of production has gone up significantly due mainly to a shortage of skilled workers.
Those Japanese companies that joined the "In China, For China" supply chain have benefited from China's development and got high returns on their investments, thanks to the complementary advantages of the two countries' innovative development models.
Chinese enterprises are good at breakthrough innovation, which can be revolutionary but short-time, while Japanese enterprises are good at cumulative innovation, and their labor markets, financial systems and manufacturing networks are different because of their structural institutional differences. Yet they can still deepen their win-win cooperation by taking advantage of the international division of labor in high-end industries.
Besides, with the intensification of US-China rivalry, Japan has increased investment in Southeast Asian countries. Despite that, Japanese companies operating in Southeast Asia have been purchasing more intermediate products from China due to the latter's industrial upgrading, which has helped Chinese enterprises maintain close contact with developed countries' markets.
Against the backdrop of China-US rivalry, some cutting-edge technology sectors such as semiconductor, artificial intelligence and quantum computing in China and Japan may decouple, but multinational companies are unlikely to take sides, given China's advantages in intermediate products manufacturing.
Further, high-level trade agreements including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership are expected to remove many trade barriers, optimize the institutional environment, lessen geopolitical risks and boost China-Japan cooperation.
The author of this part is Ding Ke, a senior researcher at the Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization
Northeast Asia needs new coordination model
Regional cooperation is being driven by improved institutional cooperation between China, Japan and the ROK, while economic and trade cooperation, including cooperation in non-traditional security fields, among the three sides has developed rapidly.
But the three countries also face some daunting challenges. First, they lack political trust because of both external and internal factors. The United States has been putting pressure on China in the fields of trade, diplomacy, national security and cutting-edge technology in a bid to curb China's peaceful rise, and coercing Japan, the ROK and its other allies to join it in containing China.
As China's close neighbors and important trade partners, as well as allies of the US, Japan and the ROK face the dilemma of taking sides against China, although, of late, they have followed the US in challenging China's core interests, creating huge obstacles to cooperation.
Second, regional uncertainties are affecting the three countries' security cooperation. For example, the Korean Peninsula, which is of great geopolitical significance to cooperation among the three countries, still faces a high security risk.
Third, regional political problems have hindered the development of a trilateral cooperative mechanism. Tokyo's refusal to reflect on its militarist past and other historical issues has severely affected China-Japan as well as ROK-Japan ties. Also, disputes over territorial and fishing rights have had a negative impact on their cooperation.
Fortunately, there are still enough reasons for the three Northeast Asian countries to work together in order to boost regional cooperation. For example, they can further expand economic and trade cooperation for mutual benefit.
In this regard, the Belt and Road Initiative can help China, Japan and the ROK to deepen cooperation, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership can help them reach an agreement on building a trilateral free trade zone. Economic cooperation is an important and the most fruitful pillar of trilateral cooperation. And in the future, the economy and non-traditional security may become other important pillars of trilateral cooperation.
Therefore, the three countries need to focus on economic recovery in the post-pandemic period so that efforts can be made to resume regular three-way talks, advance negotiations on a trilateral free trade zone, restart people-to-people exchanges, and strengthen cooperation in non-traditional security fields.
In short, cooperation among China, Japan and the ROK plays a significant role in overall regional economic cooperation and maintaining peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
In the future, the three countries are expected to not only deepen all-round cooperation, but also vigorously promote exchanges and cooperation among local governments and enterprises. They are also likely to work together to explore a new model of coordinated development in Northeast Asia, and accelerate the building of a community with a shared future in Northeast Asia.
The author of this part is Li Chengri, a researcher at the National Institute of International Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Better ASEAN integration to promote development
Somewhat like "core Europe" and its periphery, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations needs to better meld its relatively new members — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam — with the other members.
The initiative for better ASEAN integration will help promote more equitable economic development — the third pillar of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025. But as integration deepens, there will be both winners and losers. In the short term, some sectors may lose their competitiveness when cheaper goods or services are imported. So governments need to reallocate resources to more efficient sectors, and compensate those that suffer losses.
Also, most of the ASEAN members need to avoid or move beyond the so-called middle-income trap, in which growth slows as the cost of labor rises, and comparative advantages shift. Since component manufacturing within value chains will likely evolve, ASEAN needs to be prepared to take advantage of this development, by adopting better competition policies, building an investment environment conducive to innovation, and securing financing for critically important infrastructure facilities such as highways, airports and railways, power grids and gas pipelines.
ASEAN's Master Plan on Connectivity is an important long-term initiative. And recent initiatives like the Asian Development Bank-supported ASEAN Infrastructure Fund could become an increasingly useful source of financing beyond 2015.
The ASEAN Power Grid, too, is an important network and so could be the planned Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline. At present, 13 bilateral pipeline connections cover more than 3,000 kilometers, with the project also offering opportunities for the private sector in terms of investment, financing and technology transfer.
The author of this part is Phou Sambath, head of the International Business Management Department at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Source: China Daily