RAMIRO, Mike Daniele A. 301 -c ECO 26 Case Study : School of thought in Context: “South Korea and Argentina” In the framework of the foreign policies of South Korea, arose the question of analyzing the situation and the importance of this country towards some countries of Latin America. Bilateral relations with Argentina and Brazil, despite of non existing FTAs among these countries nowadays, it’s marked by a broad relation, that can be traced to the sixties and seventies when a massive Korean immigration was initiated, being approximately 105. 000 those who arrived to all of Latin America, half of them in
Brazil, country that now has 50. 000 Koreans. (Gymaraes, 2006:5) In the case of Argentina, the first immigration wave arrived in 1965, and then in regular patterns between 1970 and 1978 and during the eighties, when the procedures for Korean immigrants in Argentina Act was signed in 1985. (Mera, 2005: 31-45) This and other common issues make as study and are a source of information on the Korean foreign policy. The Research was made thanks to a wide bibliographical review and the formulation of enquiries to South Korean scholars’ experts in Latin America, which ently answered the questions in terms of confidentiality and anonymity.
South Korean foreign policy marked a milestone during the sixties when establishing diplomatic relations with the majority of countries from Latin America, like Brazil in 1959 and Argentina and Chile in 1962, among other nations of the region. During the nineties with the consolidation of South Korea internal politics, it was established a series of principles that, in the opinion of the scholar Kwak Jae Sung included the concepts of globalization, diversification, multi functionality, regional cooperation and future orientation in foreign policy. Choe, 2006: 31) At that time the relations with Latin America were reinforced by the visit in 1996 of Kim Young Sam, the first South Korean President who traveled to the region. Then in 2001 president Cardoso of Brazil went to Korea, and above all, this relations were straighten with the APEC 2004 summit in Chile, were the former president Roh Moo-hyun made a tour in different countries and signed agreements in different issues, as in the case of Argentina, were signed agreements of economic cooperation, education, mining, natural resources, technology, farming, IT, among others.
APEC Peru 2008 left the impression much remains to be done on Asia-Pacific issues due to the international crisis. It also made clear that now, more than ever, APEC’s member economies need to seek out avenues of cooperation. President Lee Myung-bak made it very clear that cooperation with Latin America would be part of his new foreign policy agenda. In his speech of 22 November 2008 in Lima, the South Korean president stated: “l am confident that we can create unlimited opportunities if Korean and Latin American companies cooperate with each other.
Korea and Latin America need to seriously reflect on the Center. Senior officials from both sides should also have a forum to discuss ways to support our nations’ businesses in the region. ” At the end of the speech, Lee added, “Geographical distance should not be a hindrance to cooperation. ” (3) This statement shows the importance the president wants to give Latin America on his foreign policy agenda. He is actively seeking a substantive cooperation agreement, essential in times of crisis.
They also agreed to support South Korean companies wishing to participate in plans to build eight Brazilian nuclear power plants (by 2030) and 520 ilometers of high speed rail linking Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Campinas. The presidents signed a Memorandum of Understanding to expand cooperation in the of green technology and bio-ethanol development in Brazil, talks to increase flights to both countries, the establishment of agricultural cooperation and the reciprocal establishment of centers for promotion of trade and industrial cooperation, among other issues.
It was also agreed to continue negotiations to further the implementation of free trade negotiations between Korea and MERCOSUR, as well as xtending an invitation to the Brazilian president to visit South Korea in 2009. South Korean foreign policy under the administration of President Roh Moo-hyun was set by the scholar Kwak Jae Sung, concepts such as: globalization, diversification, multi- functionality, regional cooperation and a future orientation in foreign policy.
We can trace in this context, the policies of the new president Lee, who also added the necessity of the search for natural resources and the orientation towards the support of regional powers including the United States. Latin America and especially the ABC ountries are not a strategic priority of the South Korean foreign policy, nevertheless there is a “strategy’ of the South Korean government to search for new markets and trade partners. This strategy came after the Asian crisis and has been carefully planned to improve the economic development of South Korea.
With the ABC countries, it has achieved the relation status of “Comprehensive Cooperative Relationship for the Common Prosperity in the 21st. Century’, due to the visit of President Roh Moo-hyun to the three countries, as part of the APEC 2004 summit held in Chile. At that time, a series of agreements were signed and they arranged the commitment for the improvement of the relations between the three countries and South Korea. These agreements were reinforced, principally with Brazil, because of APEC 2008 in Lima, Peru.
In the economic area, according to the questionnaires and the bibliographical revision, South Korea is looking to increase the commerce and the foreign investments with the ABC countries. Also, under the new administration of President Lee there is a necessity of Joint ventures in the exploration of natural resources and minerals. The FTA with Chile improved the economic relations with the country and allowed a better understanding of the Chilean market by the South Korean citizens.
The eventual FTA with the MERCOSUR, could improve even more the relations with Argentina and Brazil, but despite of some Joint studies of feasibility for a FTA, the answers to this question, showed that there is no probability of that event during this presidential period. This could be, due to the current negotiations of South Korea with countries of the Asia-Pacific region, such as China, Japan and also with the European Union. Priority areas of the South Korean foreign policy are the relations with Brazil, because of their abundance of natural resources and the living in this country.
In second place, is the excellent relation with Chile in the commercial area and Argentina is in last place due to the perception of instability at the regional level. In the political arena, according to the questionnaires and the bibliographical revision, South Korea has no unresolved issues with the ABC countries. These three countries have supported the non proliferation of nuclear weapons, the pacification of the Korean peninsula and helped South Korea to Join the IADB and ECLAC.
Despite of the bilateral diplomatic relations of Brazil and Chile with North, it doesn ???t look like a problem, mainly because of their position in a possible reunification of the Korean peninsula, that in the future can be seen as a continuity of their relations. Argentina held diplomatic relations with North Korea until 1977, but they broke down, trying to prioritize their relation with South Korea. In the cultural area, there are numerous initiatives from the Korean side to open spaces of knowledge about the Korean culture, such as agreements, programs and exchanges.
Nevertheless according to the questionnaires, there is a necessity for a more extended academic and student exchange, not Just visits. Another important area is the promotion of the language study, Spanish and Portuguese in the Koreans case, and Korean by the ABC students. There are many initiatives but also a lack of a deeper knowledge in the cultural, historic and political areas, which can help to understand the diverse realities of the ABC countries. Argentina-South Korea relations are foreign relations between Argentina and South Korea.
Diplomatic relations between both countries were established on February 15, 1962. Argentina has an embassy in Seoul and South Korea has an embassy in Buenos Aires. Case Study : Understanding a Development Miracle: China country with a population of over 1. 3 billion people. The capital of China is Beijing and the president is Hua Jinato. China currently has the world’s fastest developing economy, and it is estimated that from 1978 to 2008 China has grown at a constant rate of approximately 9% a year.
In the year 2008, GDP per capita was five times the amount than it was in the year 1978. The People’s Republic of China is also responsible for the most dramatic reduction in poverty, from 53% in the year 1981 to % in 2001; about 400 million fewer people are living in extreme poverty(TODARO 2012). This growth miracle has occurred due to the transformation into a market- oriented economy and also as a result of improving their technology. With the very large export surplus, we witness how every Chinese products are displayed on almost every Filipino stalls.
This is Just one of the efforts done by the Chinese in shaping the kind of development that the country is molding for many years. It feels so interesting to understand how income per capita in China by 2008 was well over 5 times what it was in 1978. However, the increase might be as well embarrassing to know that China’s income per capita in comparison to some other countries is far behind. Just late last year, TIME Magazine had this issue comparing countries of big economies. Though Japan is behind China in the world ranking, the former leads a significant higher in income per capita compared to the latter.
This low income per capita relative to other countries might explain why the country still has large number of poor people. Even if World Bank estimate that the number of poor in China is falling from 53% to Just 8% in 2001, still, 8% is too many in a country who has . 3 Billion population. Moreover, if China hailed the benefits of markets, trade, and globalization, it is still very important to understand that the country had adopted activist industrial policies, meaning, less privatization which for me gave China the wisest decision that led to their advantage in the race for rapid growth.
With the neoclassical counterrevolution theories (i. e. free market model) not doing well in Africa and Latin America, China’s own crafted development policies might as well be failure without their good performance in transitional institutions which is primarily heir difference against Russia who immediately abolish its central planning institutions, not allowing to coexist both institutions. With the European countries and Russia who aimed for a “big bang” in the changeover to a free-market economy, China opted to be different.
They introduced new and transitional institutions that exist side by side with previous institutions of central planning for extended periods. It was in this core reason that perhaps generates further miracle for the country. Well, in the investment atmosphere, China is the most favored. It has an eventual arket of more than 1. 3 billion consumers that is more than enough to expound the pour of investments in the region. A factor of being homogenous also matters. Ethnic diversity impedes economic growth which associates African slow pace of growth.
In the other part of the globe, whether the country is a developing or in a transition period, state-owned enterprises were sold off to private investors quickly. China is a different case. These enterprises still remained in the government’s hands, however this was contested with many problems that later on led to some of it privatized or even closed. Another important thing to consider is also their focus on township and village enterprises. These are local government owned enterprises. Though these for their country to have early reforms on agriculture in rural areas, then strategic for shifting it lately toward industry.
Upon looking China’s prosperity, there are some certain drawbacks that are might as well problems encountered by almost all other counties. Extreme poverty is one. Official land grab from peasants also losses the farmers security. Also important to note is their rising local taxes and minimal improvement in technology. The latter is more delicate for the country in the years to come. With the competing countries all over the world, China who mainly relies on labor-intensive approach may not come at par with high and sophisticated technologies of their economic rivals.
It is also a country who situates the most of the polluted cities in the world. This aggravates health problems among its people. Moreover, with its skyrocketing surplus that caters too many people around the globe, we cannot forget their publicized scandals concerning their safety on food, drugs, and others. A perfect example was their melamine tainted products on milk hat led too many victims especially in the South East Asia. This created a threat to international public image on Chinese products added by lists of health hazardous exported materials.
To wrap up, China has made the wisest decision for its own boundary. With a gradual change in adjusting itself into the demands of globalization, they had found themselves in a win-win situation. A major source of the extraordinary growth in China can be attributed to an influx of capital and the mobilisation of labour. For any economy, if you add more capital and labour, you’ll experience growth. But capital and labour each face diminishing returns, so at a ertain point adding more does not result in more growth.
The only source of sustainable growth is technology, and so far China has been importing much of their technology from the West. Unless that changes, at a certain point Chinese growth rates will look more like Western rates. It remains to be seen if the Chinese market, as it currently operates, can provide the incentives and support for useful innovation. It is impossible to say China’s economic success proves the effectiveness of its model. Not when it relied on Western demand and innovation that Western-style capitalism produced.
