Geo-economic relations of China and the US in Northeast Asia: An analysis based on flow data

Abstract

With the advancement of globalization and market economy, geo-economic relation has increasingly attracted scholars' attentions. Trade data, including import and export flows, has dominated the geo-economy research owing to its availability and representativeness. However, this might incline geo-economy research toward trade studies and disregard the importance of other international economic components, such as investment. Combining investment and trade data in doing geo-economic analysis could provide us with a more comprehensive understanding of economic relations between countries. Taking China, the US and Northeast Asian countries as an example, this paper explores the patterns of geo-economic relations between these countries, inspects the driving forces and formation mechanism of the patterns, and also makes comparison between China and the US. As a typical region with unbalanced politics and economy and greatly influenced by both China and the US, Northeast Asia can be a salient sample for geo-economic research. A geo-economic streaming potential model is proposed to evaluate comprehensive geo-economic relations which take into account both trade and investment. The conclusions are as follows. First, from 2000 to 2016, the geo-economic relations between China and Northeast Asian countries were strengthened, during which trade flow constantly occupied the dominating position. However, since 2012, the proportion of investment in geo-economy has increased rapidly. Second, the geo-economic flows between China and the US were the strongest with the fastest growth. The geo-economic flows between China and Japan, South Korea were increasing, while those between China and Russia, Mongolia and North Korea had limited influence. Third, both China and the US had expanding geo-economic flows with Northeast Asian countries and similar distribution pattern. Two major differences are also noted. One is that driving forces are different with China's geo-economic relations driven by trade flows and those of the US driven by investment. The other difference is that China's connections with Russia, Mongolia and North Korea have been strengthened while the US has been trying to maintain strong geo-economic relations with Japan and South Korea.

由于全球化和市场经济在全球范围内得到普遍认可,在各类地缘关系中地缘经济关系成为最活跃也是研究最多的一类。本文从中国与东北亚各国地缘经济研究现状入手,基于流量数据建立地缘流势模型来探寻地缘经济复杂关系背后的规律性因素,并通过对比中美两国与东北亚的地缘经济关系分析其驱动机制,得出如下结论：① 2000—2016年中国与东北亚地缘经济联系不断加强,其中贸易联系明显强于投资联系,但投资联系在2012年后得到了飞速的发展。② 中国与东北亚地区的总体经济流势呈现上升态势,其中贸易流势起主导作用,中美地缘经济流势表现最强、增速最快,中国对日、韩两国的地缘经济流势强度不断显现,中俄、中蒙、中朝三股地缘经济流势虽然近年来不断增长但对区域整体地缘经济关系影响有限。③ 中美两国与东北亚的地缘经济流势均呈现出波动上升的趋势,并在国家关系分布上较为一致;两国在地缘经济差异主要体现在两个方面：一是驱动因素不同,中国以贸易关系为主而美国主要依赖投资驱动;二是空间分布差异开始显现,美国与东北亚的地缘经济关系越来越集中于中、日、韩三国,而中国与俄、蒙、朝三国联系开始不断加强。