Cross-National Regional Economic Cooperation And Development

The uprising of economic globalization and regional economic integration are two of the most remarkable phenomena in the development of world economy after World Warâ…¡. Cross-national regional economic cooperation, which is the economic cooperation among the bordering area of countries that locate closely to each other, appears in large number with the development of world economy. Cross-national regional economic cooperation plays an important role in promoting the economic development of the bordering area, elevating the position of the bordering cities, and accelerating the agglomeration of multinational enterprises, etc. China owns a land borderline of more than 20,000 kilometers, neighboring with 15 countries and regions. However, cross-national economic cooperation between China and the neighboring countries and regions is just started, with primary border trade being the main mode of cooperation. The economy of inland bordering area develops relatively slowly. The economic development of the bordering regions should be promoted through enhancing their economic communications with the bordering regions of the neighboring countries. This is not only beneficial for the economic development of the bordering regions, but also good to the solidification of nationalities, the stability of the society, and the reduction of regional development disparities of our country. The exploration of the theories on cross-national regional economic cooperation will provide guidance for China's participation in the cross-national economic cooperation with the neighboring countries.To start up, this research defines some basic concepts of cross-national regional economic cooperation. Firstly, it makes clear the nature of cross-national regional economic cooperation. Cross-national regional economic cooperation is generally regarded as a perspective of regional economic integration. Through confederation, the cooperative economic development of cross-national bordering regions, the promotion of the position of the bordering cities, and the spatial agglomeration of enterprises can be realized. Secondly, the boundary of cross-national regional economic cooperation is settled. Cross-national regional economic cooperation is developed by certain regions of geographically connected countries. However, there is not a clear theoretical definition on how big the regions should be. In order to make cross-national regional economic cooperation achieve its expected goals, this paper proposes that the region that participate in the cooperation should have at least one central city and a regional government that can be representative of the benefits of the whole region, and that the geographical scope of the region should be the space where the central region can radiate its effect or where the regional government can preside. Thirdly, the participating bodies of cross-national regional economic cooperation should include the central governments, regional governments, regional coordinating organizations, enterprises and individuals. Cross-national regional economic cooperation is the process of the interaction of these bodies.Cross-national regional economic cooperation, the relation among the regions that participate in the cooperation is in fact the interaction of regional economic systems in space. From taking the whole cross-national regions as an economic system, the cross-national regional economic cooperation should include the economic development as well as the evolvement of the spatial structure of the system. So the theories on regional spatial interaction, on regional spatial structure, and on cross-national regional governess should be the bases for cross-national regional economic cooperation.Cross-national regional economic cooperation develops unbalancedly in practice. The cross-national regional economic cooperation in EU and North America start earlier than those in East Asia, and have better effects than those in East Asia. This dissertation studies the practices and typical cases of cross-national regional economic cooperation in EU, North America and East Asia in historical perspective. Then it finds out that the key to develop cross-national regional economic cooperation is how to choose a suitable cooperation mode and paths to realize this mode, that the institutional and organizational provisions are the guarantee for cross-national regional economic cooperation. The unitation and conformity of cities and the spatial agglomeration of multi-national enterprises within the regions should be important tasks for cross-national regional economic cooperation. Mode for cooperation refers to the standard style or manner for cooperation. It is the summarization of successful resource allocation. It is relatively stable. And paths of cooperation refer to the roads that can lead to cooperation. Therefore, the choices of cooperation mode and cooperation paths can be regarded as the strategic decisions which decide the success and failure of the cross-national regional economic cooperation. The research summarizes the current modes for cross-national regional economic cooperation: market-guided mode, institution-guided mode, and international -organization-promoted mode. Then it puts forward the general mode: open"market+institution"mode. In terms of cooperation paths, it brings forward the new idea of promoting cross-national regional economic cooperation through the unitation of central cities.As cross-national regional economic cooperation faces many uncertainties and high transitional costs, institutional and organizational provisions should be enhanced. This research goes further than the traditional researches on institutions and organizations of cross-national cooperation, emphasizing the providers of institutions and organizations. It points out that central governments, regional governments, and regional coordinating organizations should play the dominant role in establishing rules and regulations for cross-national cooperation.Cities are the executors of the economic and social activities of cross-national regions. The economic development of cross-national regions depends a great deal on cities. So cities are the growth poles of cross-national regions. There are two kinds of relations among cities worthy to be studied in cross-national regional economic cooperation. One is the relation among central cities. The other is the relation among bordering cities. First, central cities are the regional growth poles in cross-national cooperation. The unitation of the central cities helps to promote the competitiveness of the whole cross-national area as well as the development of the bordering cities within the area. Secondly, bordering cities, compared with inland cities, occupy more special geographical locations which made them become the frontier cities for cross-national regional cooperation. Generally speaking, bordering cities are usually economic underdeveloped cities of a country. Under the current international circumstances that international bordering cities usually develop very quickly, bordering cities should take advantage of their geographical location to strengthen the cooperation with those of the neighboring countries to realize rapid economic development.Enterprises are the most important actors of cross-national regional economic cooperation. In order to make enterprises play their parts in cross-national regional economic cooperation, the dissertation discusses the expansion mechanism of enterprises within cross-national regions, focusing on the unbalanced location of the enterprises. In addition, the dissertation explores the incubation mechanism of agglomeration of enterprises in cross-national regions through cost-benefit analysis. Based on the mechanism of spatial expansion of enterprises and the mechanism of agglomeration of enterprises in cross-national regions, cross-national regional economic cooperation can be unfolded purposefully.In this paper, the overall assessment of the cross-national regional economic cooperation is: In the 21st century the border areas will be the important region of gathering enterprise, a new growth point of the world economy. The border area will attract great attention among the Central Government, change from country's marginal zone into the central area of the Common Market and the space for economic activity shifted from the border to the central areas. Effective cross-national regional economic cooperation will attract more businesses and consumers to conduct cross-regional production and living.