’Talks on 3-way FTA to begin next year’

Shin Bong-kil, secretary general of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, stands beside the three national flags of South Korea, Japan, and China.

/ Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Chung Min-uck

Notwithstanding geographical proximity, Korea, China and Japan had remained far from each other with relatively little exchange and cooperation. Rather, the trilateral relations had been tainted by aggression and remoteness apparently due to a lack of mutual understanding and different interests as seen in their respective international relations.

The modern history of Northeast Asia had been marred by antagonism, mainly triggered by Japan’s imperialist aggression and consequent colonial rule of the peninsula.

Against this backdrop and despite lingering historical and territorial disputes in the region including the peninsula, it seems a very meaningful and symbolic move for South Korea, China and Japan to have recently launched a permanent body to promote cooperation in various sectors.

The Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat embarked on official operations from September based on an agreement during a three-way summit in May last year.

“It is true that Northeast Asia has had rivalry and conflict in its history. And I should say that the rivalry is still ongoing between the two big powers — China and Japan,” said Shin Bong-kil, a former Korean ambassador for international economic cooperation and the first secretary general of the body.

“But Korea is relatively free from the rivalry. Korea can get along with both sides. I think this helped a lot in launching the secretariat.”

Though being key trade partners, relations among the three neighbors were often undermined over different viewpoints on the history of Japan’s aggression against its neighbors. Adding to the conflict are territorial dispute over Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo which Japan lays claim on and disputed islands in the East China Sea known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.

Yet, with the establishment of a permanent body, the Northeast Asia region is ready to create a new history of “peace and prosperity,” Shin said.

Trilateral FTA

With regard to the level of integration in Northeast Asia, Shin said that it is still in its early stages and so it is hard to discuss setting up a union like the European Union (EU).

“Political integration could only be discussed after the integration of the economies,” said Shin.

In turn, the secretary general said that the secretariat is aiming to initiate talks on a trilateral free trade agreement (FTA) next year after terminating seven years of joint research on the effects of the simultaneous trade pact between the three nations.

“Signing an FTA could be understood as the starting of low-level economic integration. We are planning to submit a final report on the trilateral FTA (to the government of Korea, China and Japan) during a three-way summit next year,” said Shin.

He added that the trilateral agreement, which the secretariat is pursuing, could be more effective than bilateral pacts within the region as each country has a different level of economic development, which could cause discord during negotiations.

“There are opinions that trilateral FTA would be easier as it could supplement the difficult aspects of bilateral FTAs. We stand for a trilateral FTA,” said Shin.

Shin explained that the three nations have different point of view on the level of opening their markets. China insists on partial opening such as tariff cuts while Japan pushes for overall opening including the finance and services sectors. Meanwhile, Korea is sensitive to importing agricultural products.

“China thinks that they are not ready in finance and services. It is not easy for them to reach an agreement on those areas,” said Shin.

Despite the differing stance on the FTA, trade interdependence between the three countries has been rising. According to a report released by the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Security, in 2007, China and Japan have become Korea’s No. 1 and No. 3 trading partners, respectively, while Japan and Korea were China’s No. 2 and No. 4 ones. China and Korea became Japan’s No. 1 and No. 3 trading partners. Also the total volume of trade within the region reached 23 percent for the three nations the same year, and it is still going up.

Role of secretariat

Shin said for now the independent body would focus on “dealing with easier and imminent issues” and “promoting the vision of trilateral cooperation.”

“The secretariat was basically established to monitor and facilitate cooperation among the three nations. Being an independent body, I expect it to be neutral and be able to coordinate different views,”said Shin.

He said the body will actively participate in forums related to nuclear safety and disaster preparedness following the consensus of collective countermeasures against regional disasters such as Japanese quake as the three nations agreed during this year’s three-way summit.

“The issues like disaster relief are less political but urgent. The three countries agree that the natural disasters such as Sichuan earthquake and radioactive contamination after damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant is not a problem confined to one country but to the whole region,”said Shin.

The other mission, Shin said, is to sell the concept of trilateral cooperation.

“We want to let the people in the Northeast Asia and other regional blocs understand that the region has overcome the age of conflict and rivalry, and has entered into the age of peace and co-prosperity. We want to sell this message,” said Shin.

Vision for Northeast Asia

Shin claims that the level of integration in the region is just getting started but could be said that it is relatively ahead compared to the beginning stage of the EU — European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), Europe’s initial supranational community.

“In the sense of regional peace, current Northeast Asia is ahead of the ECSC, the early stage of the modern EU, as the three nations have held numerous summits,” said Shin.

The ECSC was established in 1951 involving six nations to prevent further war in Europe, especially between France and Germany, by collectively managing coal and steel as they were considered key war materials at the time.

“Now the region is just getting started for further integration. Politically, the establishment of a permanent secretariat, and economically, the fact that we have entered a phase of discussing a trilateral FTA is meaningful,” said Shin.

Yet, the secretary general cautioned against taking the issue too far.

“As time passes, entities inside and outside the region such as North Korea, Mongolia and even the United States could join. But at the moment the body is established with the purpose of serving the cooperation between South Korea, China and Japan,” said Shin.

“It would take time to expand boundaries.”

Concerning the role of Korea, Shin claimed that Korea being a middle power in the region could play a role of a “mediator.” He also added that Korea could use growing level of integration of the region as leverage in talks with the United States.