[imText1]Chinese regional government is reinforcing its effort in North Korea in order to reactivate Tumen River Area Development Project.
Deputy Director of Ximen Area, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin Province recently said he plans to “establish permanent trade relation with North Korea and pursue multinational tourism projects which connects China-North Korea-Russia through Tumen River Area Development Project”.
He also said, “the government of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture will more actively pursue cooperation with North Korea during the 11th Five-Year Plan(2006~2010)”.
Accordingly, the government of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture decided to establish 2 level highway between Rajin, North Korea and Yuanzheng maritime customs, Hunchun, China and to reconstruct the tailway between Rajin and Onsung in North Hamkyung Province.
They are also pursuing the establishment of trading zone which includes Tumen, China and Namyang, North Hamkyung Province and Sanhe China and Heoryong, North Hamkyung Province. They plan to pursue 4 different tour tracks for Hunchun-Rajin-Sokcho, -Hunchun-Vladivostok-Rajin, Hunchun-Zarubino-South Sakhalin, Hunchun, Kraszino-Zarubino-Fangchuan.
North Korea-China, in the Process of Last Check-up
On the other hand, the government of Jilin Province has invited a delegation from North Korea led by Lee Yong Nam at Department of Trade in North Korea at the end of March. They allowed them to take a look at the border area and had discussions about the logistics of economic cooperation project of Tumen River area.
North Korean delegation with Lee Yong Nam said, “economic trade between North Korea-China is improving with the attention of leaders in each country. Intimate economic cooperation will be maintained by all means possible”, at the meeting with Deng Kai, Secretary at Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture on 22 March.
Deng Kai said North Korean delegation will be invited for the The 2nd Northeast Asia Expo and the 11th International Meeting for Leaders in Northeast Asian Governments which will be held in Jilin Province this year.
Lee, on 23 March at the ‘discussion meeting for cooperation on trade’ promised to “provide more benefits and simplify the customs for the Chinese companies”. Officials at Department of Trade of Central Government of China, responsible officials at the government of Jilin Province, responsible regional officials of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Tonghua, Baisan attended the meeting and expressed their interest.
Jilin Province, Actively Pursuing UNDP Project
Recently, the government of Jilin Province has started to ’embrace North Korea’ very actively. More than simple pursuit for maximization of profit from trades is behind such behavior. It is to attract large amount of investment from rekindling Tumen River Area Development Project by UNDP.
Tumen River Area Development Project was designed to develop Hunchun, China-Rajin, North Korea- Nakhodka and Vladivostok into one free economy zone, and was started during the 1990s while Zhang Ze Min was in the government. At that time, the Cold War was coming to an end, which encouraged UNDP to promise $ 30,000,000,000 for the project. However, the unimpressive result of developpment in Rajin-Sunbong area and political interest involved among Chin-North Korea- Russia and other have been impedimental to gaining any noticeable result.
For local government in China, $30,000,000,000 is enormous amount of money. Therefore, they intend to attract the money by leading up Tumen River Area Development Program.
Recently, Chinese Central government included the development of north eastern districts in 5-Year Plan, and if Tumen River Area Program by UNDP starts again, they can secure the budget easily.
Local government has to pursue the budget in order to carry out the plan from the central government. Currently, the government of Jilin Province is drafting “conurbation project” which will bring the city of ‘Yanji-Yongjung-Tumen’ together. They also plan to spend 11,200,000,000Yuan for establishment of Hunchun-Jiangmifeng and Yanji-Wangqing.
Therefore, it seems that China is focused on investment in trade zones, ports and high ways in North Korea is to develop economic infrastructure in North Korea and to lead up the reactivation of Tumen River Area Development Project.
Chinese Investment in North Korea “No Free-Lunch”
However, it does not mean that the governmen of Jilin Province only ‘gives’ to North Korea. Chinese people are known to be strategic in economic dealings, and they are taking ‘advantage’ of their ‘support’ as well.
It is widely known that China gained exclusive right to use and develop Rajin port in North Korea, as compensation for establishment of high way in Wonjung-Rajin in North Hamkyung Province. Besides, China was excused from all the custom formalities of labor and equipments related to the establishment and development of highway and port, from which they saved 4 million Yuan per year.
Through the trading zone between North Korea-China in Tumen River area, China plans to export food, fertilizers, electronics, textile, plastic goods, cigarrete, mechanical devices. Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture had 11 million 430 thousand dollars trade surplus from trade with North Korea in the first half of last year. A government official at the local government said, “trade surplus will increase drastically when the trading zone between North Korea- China is established” with excitement.
The price of coal in Jilin Province has increased 70~100%, and they are benefitting from the imported iron ore, coal and recycled iron. Official at ‘Yanbian Tiandi Industrial Trading Company’ said, “When importing underground resources from North Korea, equipments for excavation and transportation are invested beforehand. That makes it possible to import the resources with half of the price in international market”.
Interest in whether Tumen River Area Development Project is actively pursued between North Korea- China in relation to the atmosphere in Northeast Asia is increasing. .
