Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng and Minister of Industry and Trade Resources of the Republic of Korea Yin Xiangzhi officially signed the "Free Trade Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea" on behalf of the two governments on June 1 in Seoul, South Korea, which marked a breakthrough in East Asian integration. Sexual progress.

The China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement is a wide-ranging coverage issue that China has signed to date and involves a free trade agreement on country trade. It is a mutually beneficial and win-win agreement for both China and South Korea, achieving a "balanced, comprehensive and high interest. "horizontal" goal.

According to the agreement, in terms of the level of openness, the proportion of trade liberalization of goods between the two sides exceeds 90% of the tax items and 85% of the trade volume. The scope of the agreement covers 17 areas of trade in goods, services, investment and rules, including "21st Century Economic Issues" such as e-commerce, competition policy, government procurement, and the environment.

More than 90% of products in 20 years will be cancelled

The China-South Korea FTA has many highlights, including not only the traditional liberalization of goods trade, but also the terms of service trade and investment, as well as broader economic policies such as competition policy, intellectual property, e-commerce, environment, economic cooperation, etc. .

The main contents of the agreement include: First, the tariff reduction of goods trade. Within 20 years of the entry into force of the agreement, South Korea will eliminate tariffs on 92% of Chinese goods, and China will cancel tariffs on 91% of Korean products, both of which account for more than 85% of trade. China's commitment to zero tariffs is mainly in the areas of washing machines, refrigerators, home appliances and other electronic appliances. South Korea's commitment to zero tariffs mainly includes electric motors, transformers and handbags. Second, it is promised to continue the service trade negotiation in the negative list mode after the signing of the agreement, and to conduct investment negotiations based on the pre-entry national treatment and negative list model. The third is to introduce local economic cooperation provisions to build China's Weihai City and South Korea's Incheon Free Economic Zone into a demonstration zone for local economic cooperation.

At present, China is a trading partner of South Korea and South Korea is China's third largest trading partner. According to China Customs statistics, in 2014, the total bilateral trade between China and South Korea was 289.5 billion US dollars, an increase of 5.9%. Among them, China’s exports to South Korea were US$100.34 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%. The establishment of the China-South Korea Free Trade Zone will stimulate bilateral trade. Experts expect that the trade scale will exceed 400 billion US dollars within five years.

Weihai Incheon will become a local economic cooperation demonstration zone

Taking Weihai City and Incheon Free Economic Zone as demonstration zones for local economic cooperation is one of the important breakthroughs in the negotiation of China-South Korea FTA, and also a major innovation in China's foreign trade talks for more than a decade.

In the Sino-Korean cooperation, the cooperation between Weihai and Incheon has a typical meaning. In 1990, China and South Korea had not officially established diplomatic relations, and Weihai and Incheon opened a sea route between China and South Korea. After more than 20 years of development, Weihai has become a city with close economic exchanges and friendly exchanges with China.

In the process of negotiations between China and South Korea's free trade zone, Weihai City has hosted or held the third meeting of the joint research on government, industry and academia in China-South Korea Free Trade Zone, the China-South Korea Regional Economic Cooperation Seminar, and the third round of China-South Korea Free Trade Zone negotiations. Important meetings, as a city representative to participate in the free trade area negotiations, to provide trade support data, practical examples of industrial cooperation, and local economic cooperation practices in Incheon and other basic support.

This time, China and South Korea have determined that Weihai and Incheon Free Economic Zone are the demonstration zones for local economic cooperation, aiming to give play to the advantages of the two regions and economic and trade cooperation. According to the local economic cooperation provisions of the China-South Korea FTA, explore and implement cooperation, including but not limited to the following areas, such as trade, investment, services, and industrial cooperation. It will play a role of demonstration and guidance in the area of local economic cooperation under the framework of the China-South Korea Free Trade Area.

At present, Weihai City is accelerating the promotion of the China-South Korea Free Trade Zone Regional Economic Cooperation Open Pilot Zone, the China-Korea Commodity Distribution Center and the China-Korea Information Technology Industrial Park, in China, South Korea, cross-border e-commerce, tourism, medical care, modern logistics and other fields. Actively strive for the first-in-first-trial policy.

What is the product that does not achieve zero tariff?

Both China and South Korea have some highly sensitive products. After repeated and in-depth consultations, the two sides have properly solved the problem of highly sensitive products under the principle of ensuring a general balance of interests. From the perspective of tax reduction arrangements for both parties, China's highly sensitive products are mainly technical products in the automotive, machinery, chemical, steel, electronics and other manufacturing industries. South Korea's highly sensitive products are mainly concentrated in agricultural water, textiles and automobiles. And other fields.

Extended reading

Will the agreement bring benefits to the people?

Apart from complicated terminology, what kind of benefits will the implementation of the China-South Korea FTA bring to the ordinary people?

Korean cosmetics are cheaper

In recent years, from "Winter Sonata" to "Full House" to "You from the Stars", the Korean TV series staged in turn took the eyes of the Chinese audience and brought the sales of Korean cosmetics in the Chinese market.

According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, in the whole year of 2014, South Korea's exports of "essential oils and balms, perfume products and makeup and toiletries" to China totaled US$598 million, an increase of 89.3% over the previous year. In 2015, it only reached 264 million US dollars in the first quarter, an increase of 189.4% over the same period of last year, about 44% of the total amount last year.

After the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement, Korean cosmetics are expected to become cheaper, which will undoubtedly further enhance the competitiveness of Korean cosmetics in the Chinese market. If you buy Korean cosmetics in the future, you may not need to rely on overseas purchasing.

Domestic medical treatment

In addition to the use of Korean cosmetics, many Chinese also went to South Korea for plastic surgery.

According to data from the Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of Chinese patients who went to Korea for cosmetic surgery in 2009 was only 4,725, but in 2014 it increased to more than 79,000, an increase of nearly 17 times in five years; the proportion of foreign patients also from 2009 7.8% jumped to 29.8% in 2014.

According to the contents of the Free Trade Agreement, doctors holding Korean medical licenses can conduct short-term medical practice in China, and the period is expected to be extended from 6 months to 1 year. In the future, people with plastic surgery needs to enjoy the “home service” of Korean plastic surgeons without going abroad.