N. Korea: Why Phased Reunification Is Impossible

Daily NK ^ | 05/25/12 | Andrei Lankov

[AdmSmith]

That is possible.

[AdmSmith]

South Korea and China can conclude free trade negotiations in two years, and the deal can be expanded to include Japan, President Lee Myung-bak said in an interview broadcast Saturday, stressing the ambitious three-way trade pact can be reached earlier than expected.

The three countries agreed earlier this month to launch free trade negotiations this year. The ambitious pact, if realized, would create one of the world's largest markets as South Korea, China and Japan account for 20 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and 17.5 percent of all global trade.

Separately, South Korea and China have kicked off bilateral free trade talks this month.

“Right now, South Korea and China have agreed to engage in negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement. Once we have sorted out an FTA framework between South Korea and China, which I think may happen in about two years, Japan can then join in,” Lee said in an interview with CNBC television.

http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120527000025

Naturally, the above is the ideal outcome, but at the same time:

China’s expansive territorial claims
by Yuriko Koike (Japan’s former Minister of Defense and National Security Adviser.)

TOKYO – China is now engaged in bitter disputes with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal and Japan over the Senkaku Islands, both located far beyond China’s 200-mile-wide territorial waters in the South China Sea. Indeed, so expansive are China’s claims nowadays that many Asians are wondering what will satisfy China’s desire to secure its “core interests.” Are there no limits, or does today’s China conceive of itself as a restored Middle Kingdom, to whom the entire world must kowtow?

Moreover, at a meeting in Beijing earlier this month between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during a trilateral summit with South Korea, Wen mentioned the independence movement in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Senkaku Islands in the same breath. “It is important to respect China’s core interests and issues of major concern,” he emphasized.

Until that moment, the Chinese government had never applied the term “core interest” to the Senkaku Islands. Following Wen’s statement, the trilateral summit deteriorated. While South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held bilateral talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, talks between Noda and Hu, and a scheduled meeting between Keidanren Chairman Hiromasa Yonekura and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, were also canceled. The joint declaration issued at the summit was delayed a day, and omitted all references to North Korea – a prime concern of both Japan and South Korea.

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/china-s-expansive-territorial-claims-1.1028373