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Academics tout closer relations with South Korea

Taiwan should take advantage of the opportunities presented by the election of a new South Korean leader to develop closer relations, especially on the economic front, which would benefit both sides, academics said at a forum in Taipei yesterday.

"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 (李在方), the nation's former representative to South Korea.

"For example, signing a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement is a realistic and achievable goal," Lee said.

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

"It [South Korea] will not engage in any serious political talk with Taiwan," Liu said at the forum that was 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 last year, 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 (林正義), 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.
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