Experts bullish on trade, ties

Recently improved relationship between China and ROK seen providing major boost to commerce

The future of China and South Korea's business ties will be decided by stable political relations, the fastgrowing services sector and trade - especially in manufacturing and healthcare - government officials said.

Their comments came ahead of the first state visit to China by the President of the Republic of Korea, Moon Jae-in. Expectations are that the leaders of the two countries will discuss general policies on developing bilateral ties, and how the two economies will increase foreign direct investment and achieve improved people-to-people and other forms of active exchanges after the visit.

Observers say China and the ROK have a common interest in promoting their own economic and social development.

Feng Yaoxiang, a spokesman for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade in Beijing, was bullish about prospects.

Feng said that unlike free trade agreements between China and Singapore or China and Peru, the FTA signed in 2015 between China and South Korea is not a goods trade-focused deal, but covers many areas or "advanced articles" in services and investments.

Feng added that there was still a "huge" potential for both countries to strengthen financial business deals and support cross-border e-commerce.

Liu Chenyang, director of the APEC Study Center at Tianjin-based Nankai University, said South Korea is proficient in trading in services and related sectors including personnel training, logistics, tourism, shipping, healthcare, finance and smart-city developments.

Liu said as a result its companies believe the China-South Korea FTA could be further enhanced and diversified through services and investment-fueled economic development models.

China became South Korea's second biggest trading partner after the United States by goods volumes in 2015.

Bilateral trade between the two amounted to $226 billion between January and October this year, up 11.4 percent year-on-year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

South Korea mostly ships autos, construction machinery, healthcare products, liquid crystal displays, plastics and chemical products to China.

Going the other way are building materials, steel, electronics, manufacturing, garments, lighting and agricultural products.

"China's fast-growing 4G and 5G telecom networks and the Made in China 2025 development plan will lead to improvements in productivity and resource efficiency," said Lin Guijun, vice-president of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

Lin said backed by its strong technology base, South Korean companies will certainly benefit in helping China to upgrade its manufacturing structure and reshape its global value chain, as well as gaining more from vocational education and various training businesses.

Experts say that between 2010 and 2050, China's workforce as a share of its population will likely shrink from 72 percent to 61 percent.

As a result, inter-connected industrial operations will require a different kind of workforce and skill-sets in manufacturing, according to a research paper released by the Beijing-based Institute of Industrial Economics, which operates under the aegis of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

South Korea is also one of the founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and an important hub in the Belt and Road Initiative.

China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 as a trade and infrastructure network that includes the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is creating a vast network of trade, services and infrastructure along the ancient Silk Road routes.

Eager to further boost their trade and financial deals, in October, China and South Korea also agreed to renew their currency swaps deal, worth about $56 billion, for another three years.

zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/14/2017 page7)