South Korea-Uzbekistan ties will grow

Subject Uzbekistan-South Korea ties. Significance Uzbekistan wants to reduce its reliance on Russia by expanding ties to Asia, but without risking becoming over-dependent on China, as it sees Turkmenistan has become. Uzbekistani President Islam Karimov's visit to South Korea in May paved the way for cooperation with Seoul in new areas such as logistics, energy infrastructure, construction and defence. These all represent areas of increasing connections between Central and East Asian nations. Impacts Sixty agreements were signed during Karimov's visit to Seoul worth more than 7.7 billion dollars. These will provide a boost to President Park Geun-Hye's Eurasia Initiative. South Korea will seek to strengthen its position in Central Asia ahead of China's 'New Silk Road' initiative.

Significance They are difficult to defend and therefore a tempting target. Beijing might try to seize them as a way to frighten and demoralise Taiwan's government or as preparation for an assault on Taiwan itself. Impacts A successful attack might embolden China to seize islands claimed by Japan and South-east Asian states. Western sanctions imposed in response to such an attack would be significantly more aggressive than those related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Japan would take the possibility of war with China more seriously and strengthen its defence capabilities more vigorously. A weak US response would shake Seoul's confidence in US protection and could make South Korea more likely to develop nuclear weapons.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Kozłowski

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the perspectives of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Belt and Road strategy. The challenge in terms of studying the New Silk Road concept comes from the fact of dramatic difference between the declared ambitions of the Chinese state and the elusive character of concrete Chinese involvement, in particular as far as the digital dimension of the strategy is concerned. Design/methodology/approach The goal will be achieved by comparing the Chinese expansion in the Post-Soviet Central Asia with nowadays declarations concerning the digital version of the New Silk Road. For China, the Post-Soviet Central Asia was the first frontier approached on the basis of genuinely own integration strategy: the New Silk Road Diplomacy, which later evolved into the New Silk Road concept. An overview of Chinese activity in the region tells a lot about its grand strategy of today. Findings To paraphrase T.S. Kuhn, what one sees depends on not only what one is looking at but also what one has learned to notice. The Post-Soviet Central Asia shows the way Beijing thinks about integration. PRC achieved the most by basing on the free rider effect: concentrating on economic expansion, while other Powers provided relative regional security and stability. Originality/value The comparison of the beginnings of the New Silk Diplomacy in the 1990s with the plans of the New Digital Road gives a unique angle to grasp the specific features of the Chinese approach to international integration.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 677-693
Author(s):  
Tauchid Komara Yuda

PurposePolitical analyses of the East Asian welfare state development often stress the importance of the power resource model, in which vibrant coalitions between the leftist party, interest groups, civil society and working-class unions have become driving factors in producing generous welfare outcomes. Challenging such analyses, this article discusses the convergence of the political attitude between political actors who are increasingly homogeneous (supportive) when it comes to the universal welfare state notion by focussing on childcare in South Korea.Design/methodology/approachBy using desk review of the peer-reviewed literature and reports, this article investigates the causation for why political parties with different political ideologies were keen on extending childcare programs and its outcome in addressing the existing demographic problems in Korea.FindingsAlthough the collective movement, especially in the 1990s and 2000s, had given important contributions to the early development of childcare in South Korea, more breakthroughs in childcare features were precisely and rapidly developed after politicians from different spectrums of political affiliations converged in their supportive attitude of the universal welfare. The driving factors of political convergence itself are not merely due to electoral competition or political activism; furthermore, it can be linked to the increased global institution involvement in domestic policy with extensive permeability, which, have ruined domestic policy development maintained for ideological reasoning and bring in more popular policy setting.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the growing literature on the political aspect of East Asian social policy studies, which goes beyond the traditional power resource analysis and makes a novel contribution to the childcare policy studies.


Significance Inbound and outbound Asian tourism has exploded over the last 20 years, especially in East and South East Asia. However, the sector faces challenges. Impacts Supporting tourism, Asia hosts three Olympics in a row -- South Korea 2018 (winter games), Tokyo 2020 (summer) and Beijing 2022 (winter). Tourism is a key source of exports and dollars; if Cambodia is hit by sanctions after its disputed election, tourism could cushion GDP. In ten years the UN sees India's population overtaking China's, making Indian travellers key to East and South-east Asian tourism.


Author(s):  
Mansor H. Ibrahim ◽  
Syed Aun R. Rizvi

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implication of trade on carbon emissions in a panel of eight highly trading Southeast and East Asian countries, namely, China, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis relies on the standard quadratic environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) extended to include energy consumption and international trade. A battery of panel unit root and co-integration tests is applied to establish the variables’ stochastic properties and their long-run relations. Then, the specified EKC is estimated using the panel dynamic ordinary least square (OLS) estimation technique. Findings – The panel co-integration statistics verifies the validity of the extended EKC for the countries under study. Estimation of the long-run EKC via the dynamic OLS estimation method reveals the environmentally degrading effects of trade in these countries, especially in ASEAN and plus South Korea and Hong Kong. Practical implications – These countries are heavily dependent on trade for their development processes, and as such, their impacts on CO2 emissions would be highly relevant for assessing their trade policies, along the line of the gain-from-trade hypothesis, the race-to-the-bottom hypothesis and the pollution-safe-haven hypothesis. Originality/value – The analysis adds to existing literature by focusing on the highly trading nations of Southeast and East Asian countries. The results suggest that reassessment of trade policies in these countries is much needed and it must go beyond the sole pursuit of economic development via trade.


Subject Kazakhstan's eastward tilt. Significance Kazakhstan has been adept at building ties with Western and East Asian states without upsetting traditional ally Russia. Economic links to China have grown disproportionately in recent years, thanks to Kazakhstan's search for investors, and the opportunities Beijing sees in Central Asia's largest and most advanced state. Efforts to expand trade with Japan and South Korea and attract investment there have had limited success. Impacts Chinese investment activity in Kazakhstan threatens to crowd out other Asian investors. Steep increases in Chinese imports into Kazakhstan will undercut local production. The government will have to manage grassroots fears of Chinese encroachment.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azhar Mohamad ◽  
Imtiaz Mohammad Sifat ◽  
Hassanudin Mohd Thas Thaker ◽  
Anwar Muhammad Noor

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effects of capital control and external debts after the 1997 financial crisis. Design/methodology/approach Using system estimation approach, the authors estimate a panel data-based econometric model for data on Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea from 1990 to 2017. Findings The authors find that on average, the crisis-hit South East Asian economies choosing external debt perform better in achieving greater economic growth and rebound better compared to economies imposing capital control. Originality/value This study attempts to answer whether a crisis-hit country should impose capital control or opt for external debt to recuperate from the crisis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaomin Li ◽  
Seung Ho Park ◽  
Rosey Shuji Bao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use the framework of rule-based and relation-based governance to examine the evolution of governance environment in the East Asian region including China, South Korea and Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach Both qualitative and quantitative evidences are presented to demonstrate the paths these East Asian countries take in their transitions from relation-based governance to rule-based governance. Based on the framework, this analysis sheds light on the debate on whether East Asian economies will eventually move away from relation-based governance to rule-based societies. Findings The authors find that relation-based governance has helped East Asian countries achieve rapid economic growth in the early stages of their development. However, as the scale and scope of East Asian economies expand, continuing to rely on it may hinder their further development and therefore these countries should adopt a rule-based governance system in order to be efficient and competitive in the world market. While South Korea and Taiwan have made substantial progress in this transition, China has just embarked on the process. Originality/value This paper is among the first to systematically review the theories and evidence of the transition and the challenges East Asian countries face during the process.


Subject Prospects Belt and Road in Central Asia. Significance The Central Asian states are the focus of investment associated with the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB), the westward overland part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The SREB offers them a unique chance to become central transport hubs rather than peripheral, landlocked territories but they are also seeking to build productive and export capacity through Chinese investment.


Significance The Silk Road (SiRo) factory is a joint venture between Turkiye Automotive Enterprise Group (TOGG) and China’s Farasis Energy. According to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey is on the way to becoming a global centre for EV production. Impacts Rapid lira depreciation will cause domestic vehicle sales to fall sharply, especially for mid- and upper-range passenger cars. The weak lira will make exports cheaper, boosting sales. Moving into the EV market is essential if Turkey is to retain position in the global auto industry.


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