An Inquiry into the Approach to Asian Regional Trade Integration Under the Belt and Road Initiative — The Case of the Alignment of a China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Area

Abstract

It has been five years since the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) was first introduced. Though there has been a growing body of literature on regional cooperation between covered countries, Japan and South Korea have been barely discussed. This paper starts with the consensus-based mechanism of a China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Area(FTA) to probe the approach of its alignment with the BRI in terms of the sequence of "master plans," "viability of cooperation," and "embedding of rules." This inquiry found that the three countries have a shared interest in cooperation in Central Asia to which China prefers a pragmatic approach, while Japan and South Korea an approach combining idealism with pragmatism. Given the huge potential of cooperation between the trio, it is suggested that a "Central Asia chapter" be incorporated in the negotiation framework of this trilateral FTA, and that the design feature three aspects; fundamental principles, specific rules, and an executive body with a view to functionally contributing to regional trade integration in Asia. This approach may also be applied to the alignment of other Asian areas with the BRI.

Keywords

• belt and road initiative (bri)
• china-japan-south korea free trade area (cjk fta)
• arc of freedom and prosperity (afp)
• eurasia initiative;
• central asia