Comments by Bhanupong Nidhiprabha, on Analysis of the FTA Negotiation between China and Korea

Bhanupong Nidhiprabha: Cheong provides the first academic assessment of the China–Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) based on the Chapters and Appendices that both countries have signed. The result of this study confirms his earlier research on East Asian FTAs. In Cheong (2003), his computable general equilibrium (CGE) model predicts that the countries will benefit from both bilateral FTAs and regional FTAs, but greater economic benefits would be gained more under regional FTAs. The main conclusion of this paper is that, despite the fanfare of the conclusion of the FTA agreements, the quality of this FTA is low because of narrow coverage and a low level of commitment, compared with those FTAs Korea has concluded with the United States, the EU, and Chile. The FTAs Korea carried out with ASEAN and India are also relatively low in quality. ASEAN countries and India share a similar economic structure, but their...