Economic Security, Beyond Faction to National Interest
Yoonjung Choi
yjchoi@sejong.org
Director of Center for Indo-Pacific Studies
The Sejong Institute
❍ "Economic security," which is frequently invoked as the U.S.-China confrontation intensifies, lacks clarity and systematization in the entire process from conceptualization to countermeasures, despite its importance in the current situation.
❍ Moreover, recent efforts to conceptualize and use economic security for policy purposes have tended to be factionalized as the strategic competition between the United States and China intensifies.
❍ However, if economic security is considered in a public and synchronous manner, it can be approached from a broad spectrum of national interests that transcends factionalization.
- Economic security has emerged recently due to the strategic competition between the United States and China and the disruption of supply chains due to COVID-19, but various discussions have been developed since the establishment of the modern state.
- Recent economic and security discussions and policy responses have shown diverse patterns, with Western industrialized countries, led by the U.S. and EU, fundamentally reviewing the neoliberal international order, promoting selective supply chain construction and state-led economic and trade policies rather than free trade, and strengthening solidarity with similarly positioned countries.
- Non-Western countries such as China, India, and the Global South are interested in securing markets rather than technology and are seeking to establish a new order that favors developing countries through their efforts to reshape the international order.
❍ Therefore, this study seeks to further categorize the concept of economic security to provide a comprehensive understanding as well as to explore appropriate countermeasures for each type.
- This study categorizes economic security into four types: "Security in Economy", "Economy for Security", "Economy as Security", and "Security for Economy" and suggests that various policy responses can be considered accordingly.
① Under the "Security in Economy", South Korea should promote international cooperation and establishment standards to foster core technologies and secure resources.
② Under the "Economy for Security", using certain economic governance techniques, engaging in supply chain reorganization into domestic institutionalization of trade laws and norms,
③ "Economy as Security", which involves the development of new markets and the domestic institutionalization of trade laws and norms. dimension of the government's industrial and trade policy, including exploring new markets and focusing on the realization of national interests in international cooperation, including the U.S.-Japan Economic and Security Dialogue,
④ "Security for Economy" requires more active economic diplomacy and participation in international organizations.
Type of Economic Security and Policy Response
Type | Security in Economy | Economy for Security | Economy as Security | Security for Economy |
Character | Spotlight on national security factors in economics and technology | The role and importance of the economy in achieving national security | Emphasize the security nature and importance of the economy itself | The Role of Diplomacy and Security in Realizing Economic Prosperity |
Objective / Emphasis | Attention to economic and technological sectors with security implications, including emerging and disruptive technologies, critical minerals, food and energy. | Triggering various economic measures that can be weaponized (Economic Statecraft) | Focus on conomic growth itself, allow government intervention and initiative in the market to achieve goal | Focus on inter-governmental cooperation under the goal of economic growth through international cooperation |
Response | · Foster emerging and disruptive technologies · Constant monitoring and enhanced coordination with related industries · Establish an international cooperation system | · Reorganizing supply chains (reshoring, nearshoring, frendshoring, etc.) · Increased trade sanctions and foreign investment review | Deployment of strong industrial and trade policies, including import substitution strategies, planned economies, and state subsidies. | · Active economic diplomacy, including trade agreements and development cooperation · Multilateral and subnational international cooperation |
❍ On the other hand, Korea should also pay attention to how non-Western countries perceive and respond to economic security, which will be a key issue for Korea's national competitiveness in the near future.
❍ As economic diplomacy will become more important in an era where economic security is at the forefront, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive response system that encompasses all four types of economic security presented in this study.
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