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."