Thursday, December 27, 2007

Academics urge Taiwan to develop closer relations with Korea

Taipei, Dec. 27 (CNA) Taiwan should take advantage of the opportunities presented by the election of new Korean leadership to develop closer relations with South Korea, especially on the economic front, which will benefit both sides, academics said in a forum Thursday.

"President-elect Lee Myung-bak is the first so-called 'economy president' in South Korean history. Although Taiwan does not enjoy official diplomatic relations with South Korea, it should still seize the opportunity to develop further economic ties with its former ally, " said Lee Tsai-fang, Taiwan's former representative to the Republic of Korea.

"For example, signing a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) is a realistic and achievable goal, " said Lee, who served as director of the International Relations Center of Ming Chuan University, in a forum discussing Korea's presidential election and the East Asian security.

Taiwan's focus in its relations with Korea should be on economics, not only because the lack of official diplomatic relations, but also because of South Korea needs China to deal with the North Korean issue politically, said Liu To-hai, a political professor at National Chengchi University.

"It [South Korea] will not engage in any serious political talk with Taiwan, " Liu pointed out at the forum, organized by the Taiwan Thinktank, a private policy research organization.

An attempt to expand bilateral exchanges and cooperation is also necessary as bilateral trade reached an unprecedented level of US$22.2 billion in 2006, Lee said.

Taiwan and South Korea can collaborate by exchanging information on investing in China and South Asian countries, said Academia Sinica researcher Lin Cheng-yi, before noting that both sides will have more "maneuvering space" if South Korea manages to improve relations with its northern counterpart during Lee Myung-bak's term.

"If that's the case, in the future it may be possible for Taiwanese businesses to invest in North Korea through partnerships with South Korea. If so, Taiwanese businesses will be able to benefit from cheap labor," Lin said.

Before anything can happen, it's necessary that Taiwan improve its understanding of the two Koreas, said Lee Ming-jun, Deputy Secretary-General of Taiwanese Society of International Law.

"We know too little about South Korea and have to engage in full-scale research and study, " he said.

Most people don't realize that, historically, Taiwan's destiny has been tied up with the events in the Korean Peninsula, Lee said.

He further explained that Taiwan (Formosa) and the Pescadores Islands (Penghu) were ceded to Japan in 1895 after the First Sino-Japanese War, which broke out over control of Korea. Also, upon the escalation of the Korean War in 1950, then President of the United States Harry Truman ordered the Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan from potential invasion of China.