Study On Agricultural Produce Trade Issues In China-Korea FTA

In recent years, economic globalization and regional economic integration have become the main trend of the world. China and Korea are not only important drivers of world economy, but also active practitioners of regional economic integration. China and Korea have made great efforts to promote the China-Korea FTA since 2004, and the two countries have successfully concluded the joint study of this FTA by May, 2010. However, any formal negotiations between the two countries haven't started yet; many sensitive issues at this stage need further discussions. The primary purpose of this writing is to explore solutions for the agricultural trade issues regarding China-Korea FTA.Because of the differences of competitive advantage and industrial structure between China and Korea, the attitudes toward agricultural produce trade liberalization of the two countries are also different. By analyzing the signed FTAs of the two countries, it can be concluded that China has been actively promoted the free trade for agricultural produce while Korea has been conservative. In the following part, statistical analysis is used to analyze the status and trend of China-Korea agricultural trade. The results show that both competition and complementary are significant. It is a signal that both China and Korea can get benefit in the possible FTA.The first chapter is introduction. In this part, background, significance and research methods are introduced.The second chapter is theoretical summary. Economic theory is very essential for further study of this article. The theory for free trade and trade protection are presented by time in this chapter. In the following part, definitions of Regional Economic Integration and Free Trade Area are also related.The third chapter is about the process achieved and academic focuses of China-Korea FTA. It is a general description of the efforts what China and Korea have made by now. Then, it gives a comprehensive discussion of three academic focuses on China-Korea FTA, many industries are mentioned besides agriculture.Chapter four, comparison of agricultural produce trade rules in FTAs that China and South Korea have concluded with other countries. Empirical analysis is used in this chapter. The main objects here are the FTAs that China and Korea have concluded with other partners. By analyzing the relevant trade rules, a conclusion can be made as below. China is an active promoter for agricultural trade liberalization, while Korea always avoids the opening up of agriculture. Besides, a character found during previous analysis is that Korea values the development of partners a lot. China is a developing country, so it can be predicted that Korea will try to protect its agricultural produce market when negotiating with China.Chapter five, the possible impact of bilateral agricultural trade if China-Korea FTA has been concluded. Statistical analysis and index of intra-industry trade are used to analyze the status of bilateral agricultural trade. The results are that there are great potential and possibility of cooperation between China and Korea. China and Korea are both facing opportunities and challenges in agriculture in the coming years.The last chapter is suggestions to promote the development of China-Korea FTA in agricultural trade. This chapter is divided into two parts depends on the different subjects. There are three suggestions for Government:enhance mutual political trust, reach consensus on cooperation and design proper negotiation strategy. Suggestions for agriculture of China are given as below:strengthen agricultural cooperation with Korea to complement each other's competitive advantages; improve agricultural produce quality to enhance the competitiveness of export.