东北亚区域经济合作的困难与出路

Regional Economic Cooperation in Northeast Asia: Problems and Solutions

Regional economic grouping in Northeast Asia is being faced with many obstacles, which can be reflected in the following aspects: 1) The difference in social systems will impede the establishment of common interests among regional countries and weaken the cohesion of economic cooperation; 2) The sharp distinction in economic level and capacity among regional countries is negative to the coordination of regional relations and interests; 3) The complicated and fluid relationship among the four big powers, namely, China, Russia, the United States and Japan, will cast a negative impact on the stability of regional economic cooperation; 4) The inconsistency between the main body and the carrier of the cooperation adds difficulties to regional economic cooperation. These obstacles, however, are not insurmountable. As long as a proper cooperation model is selected, the multilateral cooperation mechanism still has a bright future in the region. The sub-regional cooperation-leading model which advocates the use of small-scale economic cooperation among neighbouring countries to promote regional economic cooperation is a more practical way. The investment cooperation-leading model which advocates the use of direct investment to promote trade and factor flow will gear up regional economic cooperation. Overall development-leading model which requires economic growth go in pace with social and ecological improvement will help economic cooperation and social progress complement each other. The energy exploitation-leading model featured mainly by cooperation among China, Russia, Japan and South Korea on developing energy in the Far East has more feasibility.