Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific in Prospect

The Key of Asia-Pacific Cooperation Lies in East Asia

For the three East Asian countries – China, Japan and South Korea, the FTAAP can satisfy their long-term needs, but can’t resolve immediate concerns.

If the East Asian region, as an APEC sub-region, can’t reach consensus, the FTAAP will founder. The integration of the three East Asian countries is the core issue that APEC faces. In other words, if the problems of East Asia are solved, the problems of the Asia-Pacific will lessen.

For a long time, geographical neighbors have been uniting as groups to seek common development. There is the EU in Europe, NAFTA in North America, Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in South America, Eurasian Economic Union in post-Soviet states, the Arab League in the Arab world, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Southeast Asia, South Asian Association Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in South Asia and the African Union in Africa.

Three East Asian countries are working actively to build the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement. China, Japan and South Korea are important keystones in the world economy, with their economic aggregate accounting for 70 percent of Asia’s total and 20 percent of the world’s total. Although the trade volume among the three countries accounts for less than 20 percent of their total foreign trade volume, commercial circles of the three countries are still working tirelessly to build the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement. In May of 2012 the Japan-China-South Korea Trilateral Investment Agreement was formally signed in Beijing. The first talks on the free trade agreement were held in Seoul in 2013. In 2014, the participants negotiated on the China-South Korea FTA, China-Japan-South Korea FTA and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), while some observers worried that the progress of negotiations would be hampered by territorial disputes among the participants.

Economic cooperation among the three countries will promote cultural cooperation in East Asia, which is conducive to not only boosting mutual trust and peace, but also reviving the core values of the Oriental civilization; therefore guiding world development towards the right direction of justice, harmony and unity.

In Chinese the pronunciation of “Kochipan,” the abbreviation of South Korea, China and Japan is similar to the one meaning “something to be expected” or “in prospect.” I hope it signifies peace and auspiciousness and the region’s awakening.

HE MAOCHUN is professor at the Institute of International Studies and director of the Research Center for Economic Diplomacy Studies at Tsinghua University.