China and Taiwan a model for inter-Korean cooperation

Posted on : 2015-11-09 18:40 KST Modified on : 2015-11-09 18:40 KST
The two sides had benchmarked Korea’s Sunshine Policy, and now surpassed the peninsula with extensive exchange
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping wave after holding the two countries’ first summit in 66 years
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping wave after holding the two countries’ first summit in 66 years

China and Taiwan’s summit in Singapore on Nov. 7, the first in the 66 years since the two sides broke apart, would not have been possible without years of results from interchange and cooperation. The vastly increased role of cross-strait relations in the Taiwanese economy has also had a major impact.

Indeed, Taiwan depends on the mainland for over 40% of its gross domestic product (GDP). Mainland China also accounts for 40% of Taiwan’s total exports. Forty percent of the tourists who visited Taiwan last year were from the mainland. More Taiwanese visit China than vice versa by a six-to-four margin, but the percentage of mainland Chinese visiting Taiwan has been growing rapidly. Around 840 flights each week traveled between the two sides in 2014, linking 54 cities on the mainland with ten in Taiwan. Some 80,000 Taiwanese companies have ventured into the mainland, with around two million Taiwanese residing there on a permanent basis. Chinese capital investments in Taiwan amounted to US$334.6 million in 2014, while Taiwanese investments in China totaled US$9.83 billion -- evidence that the mainland is seen in Taiwan as a “land of opportunity.”

An important driving force for this rapid growth in cross-strait relations has been the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed by the two sides in 2010 after Ma Ying-jeou’s 2008 election as Taiwanese President. Ma described his own policies for improving cross-strait relations as having “benchmarked” the Sunshine Policy of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung (1998--2003), according to former Unification Minister and current Korea Peace Forum standing representative Jeong Se-hyun, who met with Ma in April.

But the same inter-Korean relationship that served as a role model for improvements in cross-strait relations has been languishing since personnel exchanges and trade took a nose dive in the wave of sanctions imposed by the Lee Myung-bak administration on May 24, 2008. Indeed, trade and traffic amounted to more or less zero last year apart from the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which accounted for 99.8% of the former and 99.7% of the latter.

“Cross-strait relations have made some amazing progress over the past few years thanks to a pragmatic approach of separating government and economic issues and putting the economy first in the name of ‘respecting differences while striving for common goals,’” said former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won.

“The place we should be turning to in order to find a new growth engine for the South Korean economy, which is current mired in low growth, is North Korea,” Lim advised.

According to Lim, the improvements in cross-strait relations show that improving inter-Korean relations through greater traffic, interchange, and cooperation would not only be in both sides’ interest but also offer a shortcut to reducing the costs of eventual reunification.

By Lee Je-jun, staff reporter

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