KDI 한국개발연구원

요약 China, Japan, and South Korea—the three East Asian countries—have constituted
one of the most dynamic economic regions in the world throughout
the second half of the twentieth century. In spite of recent prolonged
recession, Japan still remains one of the wealthiest economies, and recovering
from the East Asian Financial Crisis, China and South Korea seem to
have restarted their growth engines as well.

In contrast to the region’s robust economic growth, regional security
has long been fragile, mainly due to the geopolitical conditions of the Cold
War era. If the countries in East Asia would like to further their development
and prosperity, they will have to learn to harness their economic
dynamism and create a region in which peaceful coexistence and common
prosperity prevail. The premise of this volume is that initiating regionwide
economic cooperation is one of the most important steps toward creating
such a region in the twenty-first century.

East Asia is one region of the world where formal regional machinery
such as the European Union or NAFTA has yet to be established. It may
not be ready yet for such machinery, but that does not mean that the three
East Asian countries should not start promoting regionwide cooperative
projects. This volume presents a number of specific projects of cooperation
that these three countries can launch in order to achieve closer economic
integration in the future. These projects include regional information infrastructure,
a regional energy community, and a regional institution for
financing infrastructure investment.

Establishing regional information infrastructure will facilitate greater
communication and information exchange among the three countries, a
necessary ingredient for closer economic relations and common prosperity
in the twenty-first century. Energy security is another area of cooperation,
as the three countries are heavily dependent on energy imports and are
highly vulnerable to energy crisis in the event of an interruption— especially
in the case of oil imports. They can improve their energy security
through cooperative measures such as the establishment of common stockpiles
of oil.

East Asia has a northern subregion that includes North Korea, Mongolia,
the Russian Far East, and the northeastern provinces of China—an area
that is underindustrialized but is well endowed with latent natural and
human resources. This subregion has the potential of becoming an important
source of natural resources for the entire region, and what is needed is
to realize that potential through infrastructure investment. Financing
requirements for this investment are likely to be large, and a regional
development bank may be a key in meeting that financing need.

This volume is comprised of the papers presented at the conference
entitled “A Vision for Economic Cooperation in East Asia: China, Japan,
and Korea,” jointly organized by the Korea Development Institute (KDI)
and the East-West Center and held at the Hawaii Imin International Conference
Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. I would like to thank Dr. Lee-Jay Cho,
senior advisor of the East-West Center, Dr. Yoon Hyung Kim, professor of
economics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and senior fellow at
the East-West Center, and Dr. Chung H. Lee, professor of economics at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa, for coordinating the conference and
preparing this volume for publication. I also thank the paper writers, discussants,
and other participants who contributed to the conference. Our
gratitude goes to Dr. Kennon Breazeale for production coordination and
the East-West Center’s graphics and production services, which prepared
the cover and book design and brought the book to a camera-ready state.