Research On Economic Linkage Structure Among RCEP East Asian Countries

In November 2020,the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement(RCEP)injected new momentum into the regional economic cooperation in East Asia.To promote high-level opening up,China must promote cooperation and interaction with East Asian countries,and promote the implementation of RCEP.The basis of regional economic cooperation is economic linkage,which provides a basis for promoting regional economic cooperation.Various forms of regional economic cooperation form different levels and different types of networks because of economic linkage.The characteristics of economic linkage structure can be effectively identified through the linkage network,which is of great significance for promoting regional economic cooperation.Therefore,it is necessary to build an linkage network,identify the structural characteristics of economic linkage among East Asian countries of RCEP,and promote economic cooperation among East Asian countries of RCEP.Industrial correlation is an important foundation of economic correlation between countries,and economic correlation between countries is essentially industrial correlation between countries.The existing research on the economic correlation between RCEP countries is rarely carried out from the dimension of industry.Therefore,this paper takes RCEP East Asian countries as the research object,based on the inter-country industrial correlation,and uses the latest world input-output data released by the Asian Development Bank to build inter-regional industrial networks and regional networks at the meso-scale and macro-scale,respectively,to study the economic correlation structure between RCEP East Asian countries.Inter-regional industrial network takes the industries of RCEP East Asian countries as nodes and the strong correlation between industries as links.Regional network converges RCEP East Asian countries as nodes and takes the overall industrial correlation among countries as links.On the basis of constructing interregional industrial network and regional network,this paper studies the characteristics of economic linkage structure among East Asian countries of RCEP through network structure indicators such as degree,second degree,centrality,basic linkage structure and nuclear structure.By studying the structure of interregional industrial networks,the roles and positions of industries in RCEP East Asian countries are clarified,and the important industries in RCEP East Asian countries are identified.By studying the structure of regional networks,the economic status and influence of countries are clarified,thus providing policy-making basis for China to promote high-level opening up and economic cooperation with East Asian countries.According to the economic linkage structure of RCEP East Asian countries,as a whole,RCEP East Asian countries have formed close industrial networks and regional networks,and there are strong industrial linkages among RCEP East Asian countries.Textile,metal manufacturing,electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing,chemical products,coke oil refining,machinery manufacturing and wholesale industries are closely related industries among East Asian countries.Chinese mainland,Japan and South Korea have many supply hub industries,which mainly play the role of suppliers and promote other countries by supplying a large number of intermediate products.Singapore,Philippines,Malaysia and other ASEAN countries have many demand hub industries,which mainly play the role of demanders,and play the role of demand pulling by investing a lot of intermediate products provided by other countries.For China,as the most important supplier of intermediate products among RCEP East Asian countries,Chinese mainland has the strongest influence on other countries.Chinese mainland’s textile industry,electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing industry,metal manufacturing industry and chemical products industry are the main carriers of Chinese mainland’s strong supply to promote its influence.These industries are closer to the downstream industries,and the elements are easier to flow to the downstream industries.They are the necessary sections for elements to flow among RCEP East Asian countries,providing a large number of intermediate products for related industries in other East Asian countries.From the perspective of the flow of intermediate products,some of Chinese mainland’s intermediate products flow to Malaysia,the Philippines and other ASEAN emerging economies,providing intermediate inputs for ASEAN countries’ textile industry,electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing industry,metal manufacturing industry,machinery manufacturing industry,etc.,making use of ASEAN’s resources and labor advantages to complete the assembly of computers,electronics,electricity,machinery and other products and the end production of textiles and clothing;The other part flows to developed economies such as Japan,South Korea and Singapore,providing intermediate input for the electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing and metal manufacturing industries in Japan and South Korea.Chinese mainland’s strong supply capacity also reflects the promotion of its economic status,from the downstream of the industrial chain of "importing intermediate products and assembling final products" to the middle of the industrial chain of "exporting intermediate products".Compared with the input of intermediate products,Chinese mainland’s demand for intermediate products is less influential and less dependent on the input of other East Asian countries.Based on this,in order to better promote China’s high-level opening to the outside world and promote economic cooperation among RCEP East Asian countries,the following suggestions are put forward: continuously improve the technology and capital content of export intermediate products to achieve a climb in the industrial chain supply chain;Focus on high-end manufacturing and service industries,expand imports,strengthen internal demand,promote the orderly flow of goods and factors in domestic and international markets,and realize the mutual promotion of international circulation and domestic circulation;Promote the integration of East Asia with high-standard and high-quality economic and trade cooperation,and promote the early completion of the China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Area.