일본의 기체결 FTA의 특징에 대한 고찰

An Analysis of the Characteristics of Japan's Existing FTAs

The aim of this study is at analyzing the characteristics of Japan’s existing FTAs. An economy’s real outcome of certain external policy may differ from the policy per se since the latter might be rapped superficial justification or diplomatic rhetoric. In this context, we pay attention to the Japan’s partners and the contents of ratified FTAs than the FTA policy of Japan revealed as official documents in order to achieve the study’s aim. In doing so, we first address the uniqueness of Japan’s selection criterion of FTA partner. Secondly, we assess the characteristics of existing FTAs in terms of various areas such as trade in goods, investment, cross-border trade in services, intellectual property rights, cooperation agendas and so forth. As findings of the investigation, it is worthwhile to demonstrate that Japan’s existing FTAs are do not necessarily consistent with its policy since it suffers from weak competitive edge of agricultural sector in terms of internal politics meanwhile it mainly takes into account the rivalry with China in terms of external relations.