Beseto is axis of economic activity in Northeast Asia

Beseto is axis of economic activity in Northeast Asia

By Lee Suk-ki

SEOUL (Yonhap): Northeast Asia is fast emerging as a center of economic activity on a level unparalleled in history.

The vast region has a vast pool of untapped natural resources and key countries in the region are ready to cooperate with one another on an unprecedented scale in taking the plunge into various economic projects.

South Korea, China, Russia, Mongolia, and even North Korea intend to chip in with various projects to exploit the region's natural resources.

For starters, the Tumen River Development Project is already well past the planning stages in the hands of government officials of those countries in the region, and the mammoth project is targeting at exploring, among others, the region's oil, gas, minerals, and timber, to name just a few.

Beseto is the word to watch as it will be at the center of a variety of development projects to due to unfold in the region.

It stands for the first two letter of Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo, the capitals of three major countries in Northeast Asia, and these three key players are being urged to get together and fashion a mutual network of cooperation.

The UN Center for Regional Cooperation was behind a recent seminar designed to explore ways to bring these three major population centers closer both on the public and private levels to speed up regional development.

The main theme of the international event was" Future of Super Cities in Northeast Asia, and the Prospect for Their Mutual Cooperation Beyond Borders."

The three cities are already conducting a study on a network that will link them in a cooperative undertaking including a permanent office and multilateral business projects.

The areas of the three capitals are huge, and both Beijing and Tokyo are located within an hour and a half of flying time of Seoul; Within their proximities are some 108 cities with a population of over 200,000. Beseto, in fact, connects an industrial and commercial center in Japan with Tokyo at its apex, and the Bohai region in China including Dalien, Shenyang and Tianjin centered around Beijing.

South Korean and Chinese officials initialed and aviation agreement July 27 which will allow South Korean commercial airlines to service five Chinese cities including Beijing. The signing is considered to be a great boon to various efforts being pushed under Beseto.

According to statistics presented at the seminar, South Korea, Japan, and China accounted for some 20 percent of total world GNP.

Prof. Li Wonyien of the Geography Dept. of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said China has been keen on developing the Bohai region as a leading center of international trade and economic growth, and improving conditions for foreign investment and business operations, while not limiting it self to relaxed foreign exchange rules and private ownership of land.

A cooperative network for Beseto requires infrastructure that will physically link the three cities including communication facilities especially those connecting air and railroad transport lines, and financial institutions, Prof. Li said.

Prof. Kim In of the 2lst Century Center at Seoul National University said Beseto can build a viable cooperative network only when Japan's money and technology and Korea's development experiences, and China's natural resources and labor forces have been combined and harnessed.

He foresaw the possibility of a real expansive network combining economy, science-technology, urban administration, culture and environment.

The professor warned, however, that it must be dominated by the private sector, and be capable of handling visas for foreign workers, and other pertinent issues.

"Ultimately, the foreign laborers should need no visas to work in these cities and their vicinities," Prof. Kim said.

Seoul, lying at the center of this axis, should supplement its transportation facilities to accommodate the emerging needs, he continued.

As a means to firm up their foundation, Seoul and Beijing are considering to build their relationship from the ward-level up.

Eighteen wards each from the two capitals would be the first to forge relations; Commerce, tourism, education, and others will be the major factors considered in selecting these wards.

Seoul city officials said, for example, Seoul's Yongsan ward is a candidate to tie up with Beijing's Choyang ward, which is loaded with hotels and other commercial establishments.

The Yongdungpo ward would forge a relationship with China's Sokyung San ward as both have mutually identifiable factories and power plants.

These wards would be free to activate their new relations via exchanges in various in areas: tourism, art exhibition, and seminars on a wide-ranging issues, for example.

The three Beseto cities may name honorary ambassadors in large cities in their vicinities. Seoul is expected to name honorary ambassadors in eight Beseto cities -- Shenyang, Dalien, Tianjin and Beijing in China, and Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya and Tokyo on Japan.

They will be called on to act as a liaison between their cities and the home city extending for a wide range of activities such as spotting projects in which two Beseto cities could help each other, and disseminating information and data on those cities.

The Korea Land Development Corp. has drawn up a national land development plan which is tuned to economic opportunities in Northeast Asia, although everything depends on what North Korea would do with its nuclear programs.

The master plan has designated West and East coasts as the main arteries of economic development including a sizable infrastructure improvement to be concentrated in the areas and spells out South Korea's role in Northeast Asian economic development.

The West Coast artery, running from Mokpo port of South Korea all the way to North Korean city of Shinuiju on the Manchurian border has been designed as a transition area for trade linking the ASEAN countries and Northeast China.

The East Coast will serve as entrepot for Japan and the Russian Far East centered around such port cities as Pusan, Pohang, and Sokcho in South Korea and Wonsan and Chongjin in North Korea.

The plan is geared to turning the entire Korean Peninsula into a gateway to the plains and wilds of Northeast Asia which are destined to see a lot of economic activity.

The vast area is just now opening up to massive investment projects with the demise of the Cold War.

Already, investors are talking about huge projects. On the drawing board are the construction of gas pipelines extending for tens of thousands of miles from the Russian Far East to Japan through the Korean Peninsula.

Presidents Kim Young-sam and Boris Yeltsin already have signed an agreement to launch preliminary studies on the massive gas supply plan, and investors from Japan, the United States and other countries are set to join in the project which is already known as "Vostock Plan."