Policy Paper 06: Northeast Asian Economic Cooperation in the Post-Cold War Era

NORTHEAST ASIAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION IN THE POST–COLD WAR ERA: ECONOMIC RELATIONS BETWEEN CHINA, THE ROK, THE DPRK, JAPAN, AND RUSSIA by Lu Zhongwei I. O V E R V I E W The vision for economic cooperation in Northeast Asia (i.e., the three provinces in Northeast China, the Korean peninsula, the Russian Far East, and the Japanese coast on the Sea of Japan) arose in the mid-1980s. The general view of the rationale for an envisioned Economic Zone in Northeast Asia is that the combination of Japan’s and the Republic of Korea’s (ROK’s) capital, technology, management and sales channels, China’s and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK’s) labor and market, and Russian resources, scientists, and technicians would establish a beneficial division of labor in trade and the economies as a whole for all three parties.