This six part documentary covering Chinese people, political model, economic power, soft power, military power...created a sensation in Korea, broke the viewership record of all documentary.
纪录片《超级中国》韩国热映引发“中国热” 150220 通天下 - 视频中心 - 抓贴吧分享社区!
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环球时报驻韩国特派记者陈尚文】“华丽的中国时代正在展开。中国外汇储备居世界第一;13亿人口创造出的非同一般的力量;军事外交向世界展现中国影响力;中国土地蕴含潜力与力量;软实力向着文化大国飞奔;共产党,中国式领导的强力指导。”这是韩国纪录片《超级中国》(SuperChina)第一集开篇前的话。该片在韩国引发热烈争论。有韩国网民看完节目后表示对中国的发展刮目相看,但也有人担心“中国的壮大速度之快,让人感到害怕”。而在中国网络上,这部纪录片也引发不少关注。有中国网友打趣道:夸得太过,“五毛”都不好意思看了。
Very nice.
I came to believe more and more each passing day that China has a better economic-strategic alignment chances with Korea than Japan. Japan seems to have been too much embedded in the US' regional and global ambitions. Japanese politicians and media are under strong influence of the US. How can you trust someone when they are incapable of representing the best of their own interests?
China and Korea have a great potential for economic integration. And this is already what is happening on the ground. Great news for both independent nations. Maybe Korea will serve as a TPP killer way before Japan.
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Samsung Electronics, China trade deal give boost to South Korea's yuan hub ambitions
BY SE YOUNG LEE AND
CHOONSIK YOO
SEOUL Tue Feb 24, 2015 11:14pm EST
A man walks at the Samsung Electronics' headquarters in Seoul January 7, 2015.
(Reuters) - Tech giant Samsung Electronics gave a big boost on Wednesday to Seoul's ambitions to become a global hub for the offshore yuan business, saying it was preparing to start trading the Chinese currency directly with the South Korean won.
The news came as the South Korean government announced that it hoped to sign a final free trade agreement with China within the first half of the year, in a further sign of strengthening relations between the countries.
South Korea became the third country in the world to begin direct trading of the yuan for a local currency in December under the aim of grabbing a larger share of the growing business opportunities involving the yuan outside China.
"This is an encouraging development given that one of the weaknesses on the market was the low demand or supply from the corporate sector," said Song In-chang, head of the finance ministry's international finance bureau.
"I hope Samsung's plan to participate in the market will influence other big companies also to join," he added.
Samsung said in a statement it was "looking into starting won-yuan direct trading". It did not elaborate, but traders said such a move would be a big boost for the market, which until now has been in operation led by banks designated as market-makers.
"The fact that there's real demand and supply for commercial purposes carries a big significance even though the amount is small," said one currency dealer at a local bank.
Over the long term, the yuan-won rate closely tracks the calculated price from each currency's value against the U.S. dollar, but companies can save costs and reduce the risk from exchange-range volatility in the meantime.
South Korea has been encouraging companies trading with China to settle transactions with the yuan or the won instead of the U.S. dollar, but actual use of the local currencies in trade deals remains very low.
It is not clear how much trading volume Samsung can generate on its own. The company uses the currency market to settle direct transactions between its headquarters and its foreign subsidiaries.
Separately, South Korea said it and China had completed the "initializing" process on a free trade agreement and were aiming to formally sign the pact within the first half of this year, which would sharply reduce barriers to commerce and investment.
Leaders of the two countries said in November that they had made substantial progress in negotiations.
South Korea ran a $55 billion trade surplus with China in 2014. According to the Bank of Korea, 3.6 percent of South Korean exports to China and 2.3 percent of imports were settled with the won or the yuan during the fourth quarter.
The deal comes as South Korea has yet to decide whether to join the United States-initiated Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, aimed at slashing trade barriers between a dozen countries.
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So, what is the content of the FTA that is to be signed soon?
S. Korea, China initial bilateral free trade pact
Published : 2015-02-25 11:37
South Korea and China initialed their free trade agreement Wednesday, taking a step closer to implementing what
South Korean officials hail as the most significant trade deal for the country.
The initialing came about three months after the two countries concluded their FTA negotiations that began in May 2012.
The agreement, currently written only in English, will be translated into the two parties' native languages before it is officially signed.
"The two countries' governments have agreed to work for official signing of the Korea-China FTA within the first half of 2015," the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a press release.
The free trade pact requires approval from the countries' respective legislatures for implementation.
"The government will do its utmost to have the agreement ratified by the National Assembly without any disruption so that our companies can start benefiting from the Korea-China FTA at an early date," the ministry said.
Some new and positive elements have been added to the agreement since the conclusion of negotiations on Nov. 10, Woo Tae-hee, South Korea's deputy trade minister, said at a press briefing.
Firstly, 310 products from the inter-Korean joint industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea, will immediately benefit from a reduction or elimination of China's import tariffs, he said.
Such an agreement compares with only 100 products in South Korea's FTAs with Peru and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The two countries have also added a new standstill clause in their bilateral agreement that will prevent either side from raising or adopting new customs duties on any products or services, according to Woo.
"We cannot say every element in the agreement is more favorable to us as negotiations always involve more than one party," he said. "But I believe we have in our hands a well-balanced agreement that reflects the interests of both parties in negotiations."
The FTA is expected to become the most significant trade pact for South Korea as China is already its largest trading partner.
China, the world's largest single importer of South Korean goods, accounted for more than one-fourth of South Korea's overall exports in 2014, according to the trade ministry.
Under the Korea-China FTA,
South Korea will completely eliminate its tariffs on 79 percent of all products, or 9,690 items, imported from China within 10 years following its implementation.
China will reciprocate the move on 71 percent of the products, or 5,846 items, from South Korea over the cited period.
Within 20 years after the FTA goes into effect, South Korea will eliminate its tariffs on 92 percent of all goods from China, with China eliminating its own import duties on 91 percent of products from South Korea.
Following its implementation, the Korea-China FTA is expected to help boost the countries' annual bilateral trade to over $300 billion, a 39.5 percent hike from $215.1 billion in 2012.
Also, South Korea's trade territory, represented by the combined gross domestic product of countries with which South Korea has a free trade pact, will grow to 73 percent of global GDP from the current 61 percent. (Yonhap)