The Assessment of the Inter-local Cooperation Efforts in the Japan-Korea Strait Zone
2. Assessing Cross-Border Cooperation among Public Authorities
transport equipment, most of which seem to be shipped to the southeastern Korea.
On the import side, Fukuoka’s main import item is machinery and equipment, which is semiconductor-related. The departure point of these import goods may be Incheon airport. Other import items such as foodstuffs, textile and textile products, and metal and metal products are very likely to come from Busan by sea route.
Although semiconductor is the most important trade item between Kyushu and Korea, it should be noted that ‘intra-industry trade’ in other categories of goods has been increasing as well between Fukuoka and Busan.
What is important now and perhaps in the future is the import and export of food items at the Fukuoka prefecture. Fukuoka’s import of food items from Korea is higher than the national average. The Japan-Korea FTA would have more significant impact on the Fukuoka area than on the national average in terms of primary products and food items.
These local authorities have carried out various joint projects in the field of youth exchange, culture and sports exchange, environmental technology exchange, and other business exchange. It may have been a rare case for Japan to see cooperation among prefectural governments to promote exchanges with foreign countries. It has brought steady results in the field of exchanges of high school students, technological exchange concerning acid rain, fishery-related exchange, and other economic exchange through trade fairs, business missions and so on. Furthermore, a forum was established among the local research institutes in 1994, in cooperation with the Japan-Korea Governors’ Summit.
Figure 3.4 Location of the Member Prefecture-City-Province of the Japan-Korea Governors’ Summit
Since then, it has conducted collaborative studies on the various topics regardless of budgetary constraints. Although the scale of cross-border cooperation is not so large, local leaders, citizens and researchers actively participate in exchange programs. The Japan-Korea Governors’ Summit provides an important institutional framework for the Japan-Korea strait zone.
2.2 East Asian City Conference
As a city-level interaction, ‘the East Asian City Conference’ was established in 1991, and ten cities in the three countries Japan, China and Korea participated in this conference. The East Asian City Conference has played a key role to form the Yellow Sea Sub-region. Figure 3.5 indicates the location of the cities participating in this conference.
Figure 3.5 Locations of the Member Cities of East Asian City Conference
Those cities such as Ulsan and Busan in Korea, Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, and Shimonoseki are located in the Japan-Korea strait area. Busan is also a member of the Governors’ Summit. It should be noted that those cities are the driving forces of cross-border cooperation across the strait.
The conference also focuses on exchanges of technology, administration, sports and culture. It, however, has put much more emphasis on economic exchanges between cities than the Japan-Korea Governors’ Summit. For example, it has held a forum of business leaders as well as mayors’ summit from the beginning. During the last thirteen years from 1991 and 2004, many meetings have been held but they have not solved difficult issues. Moreover, these meetings have not produced a large impact on the business side. The city of Kitakyushu, therefore, initiated a plan to set up a new organization called ‘the Institute for Promoting East Asia Economic Exchange,’ which aims to revitalize the economy of the Yellow Sea Sub-region. This institute was established in November 2004, supported by four working groups such as manufacturing, environment, logistics and tourism.
Major cooperation projects are as follows: East Asia FTA at the sub-regional level, environmental demonstration zones, industrial cluster across the border, promotion of tourism, and cross-border partnership among industry and academia.
2.3 Kyushu-Korea Business Exchange Conference
As a national government organization, the Kyushu Bureau of METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) has organized ‘Kyushu-Korea Economic Exchange Conference’ every year since 1993.1) The counterpart in Korea is the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. This conference aims to expand trade, investment and the exchange of industrial technology
1) A parallel conference has been going on between Kyushu and China.
between Kyushu and Korea, discussing specific projects contributing to the economic and industrial development of both countries. In addition to this, various seminars and fairs such as trade promotion seminars, investment environment seminars have been held, and industrial exchange missions have been dispatched.
It is unique that the Korean government and the regional bureau of the Japanese government agreed to pursue the expansion of trade, investment and technology transfer among small and medium sized firms between the two countries. This is the first time in Japan that a regional organization deals with the central agencies of Korea and China (Ministry Science and Technology). Recognizing a need for cross-border cooperation, the Kyushu Bureau established an international department. In 2001, the Bureau established the Economic and Technological Cooperation Forum of the Yellow Sea region for the formation of the Yellow Sea Economic Zone.
Ogawa (2004) notes that if this Kyushu style international cooperation is supplemented by granting the use of ODA, it will resolve the most important bottleneck for cross-border inter-local cooperation, i.e., the shortage of funds.