Abstract

Purpose - This research undertakes to understand the trade structures of both China and Japan to strengthen Sino-Japan economic cooperation and examines impediments to trade between the 2 countries to analyze causes which affect trade and to examine improvements in these areas to find out ways of trade expansion. Through this survey of a defined period of time, we can identify the structural factors of trade dependence in the relationship between China and Japan. Research design, data, methodology - The data were collected from Korea Traders Association, Korea Customs Office and UN Comtrade, from which whole table indexes are calculated by author. This research methodology uses trade related indexes to focus on analyzing comparative advantages based on time-series analysis statistics data (2000~2012), by using the analysis index of Trade Intensity Index (TII), Revealed Comparative Advantage Index (RCA) and Trade Specialization Index (TSI). Results - The export ratio for China against Japan was a little higher in 2000 at 2.867 and the export ratio for China against Japan was sustained in 2005. However, it diminished gradually and reached 1.263 in 2012. During the whole period of 2000~2012, the indexes were maintained without any significant change. However, they are still moving closer to -1. Especially, in 2012 it is the closest it has been to -1. Therefore, Japan has a comparative advantage toward export specialization. On the other hand, China has a comparative advantage toward import specialization. For the whole research period, all indexes were much smaller than 1, which means that China has comprehensively had a comparative disadvantage against Japan for the past 10 years when compared to other industries, even though it had improved in 2000. Conclusions - The summary of conclusions based on empirical analysis research are as follows: First, per the Trade Intensity Index of industries between the 2 countries, we can conclude that export ratio index is 2.867, based on the formula, in 2000, which means the export ratio of China against Japan is a little bit higher. Furthermore, the ratios of 2.259 and 1.263 are indicated in 2005 and 2012 respectively which mean the export ratio of China against Japan was maintained in 2005 but was diminishing gradually as the index is 1.263 in 2012. Second, per the Trade Specialization Index of the shipping industry between China and Japan, -0.379 is indicated in 2000, -0.368 in 2005 and -0.568 in 2012. Looking at the whole period of 2000~2012, the indexes were maintained without any significant change. However, they are still moving closer to -1. Especially, in 2012 it is the closest it has been to -1. Third, per the Revealed Comparative Advantage Index of the automobile industry between China and Japan, the RCA indexes in 2005 and 2012 are 0.246 and 0.306 respectively which are still far from 1 even though the index is improved compared to 2000's value of 0.0001. Therefore, the Chinese automobile industry is very much at a comparative disadvantage to that of the Japanese automobile industry.