With the ever rising clout of China in the global economic front, South Korea should attach greater importance to the “China factor” in its economic planning as the Middle Kingdom is likely to be the “real tiger” in the year of tiger, a major local newspaper said on Saturday.
In a column, tilted “China: the real tiger,” Donga Ilbo said that the global economic landscape is undergoing dramatic transformations amid the unprecedented economic development of China. South Korea, which lies next to China, naturally stands to receive the impact its neighbor is likely to generate, it said.
“If Korea fails to read the ‘China factor’ correctly and responds wisely, it may be subject to shouldering a shock that it may not be well prepared to absorb,” it said.
Historically, Korea looked at China as one of the primary sources of importing advanced industrializations. But China’s economic development was severely hampered during the political upheaval of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. Meanwhile, during the same period, South Korea’s export-driven economy made rapid expansions through various industrial development projects, making South Korea “for the first time exceed China in terms of living standards,” it said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted China’s gross domestic product this year to overtake Japan to become the world’s second largest economy.
China’s Development Research Center, a state economic research agency under the State Council, China’s government, predicted that China’s economy will achieve a robust growth of 9.5 percent this year, far exceeding the forecasts of other major world economies.
“South Korea should read China’s moves and changes correctly,” it said.
The Lee Myung-bak administration had been seen leaning closer towards the U.S., South Korea’s traditionally ally. But he recently appointed his confidant and the former chief of staff at the presidential office, as a new ambassador to China, a measure widely seen as a sign that the Lee administration wanted to improve ties with China.