Structural Shift in Türkiye-East Asia Economic Relations: The Demise of Japan and the Rise of China and South Korea

T & uuml;rkiye's economic relations with East Asia have gone through a significant structural shift over the last two decades. Previously, Japan dominated T & uuml;rkiye's trade with East Asia and foreign direct investment inflows from East Asia to T & uuml;rkiye. However, recently both South Korea and China have surpassed Japan as major trading partners of T & uuml;rkiye in East Asia and caught up with Japan in foreign investments in T & uuml;rkiye. The dependence of the Turkish economy on intermediate inputs from China, in particular, rose remarkably. The shift from Japan toward South Korea, and more significantly, to China in T & uuml;rkiye's economic relations with East Asia reflects the changing division of labor in the East Asian region and the rise of China as a manufacturing superpower. In this analysis, we discuss the extent of this shift in T & uuml;rkiye's relations in light of the ongoing talks of a proposed free trade agreement between T & uuml;rkiye and Japan, the changing global trade environment due to the decoupling from China, and the increasing fragmentation of the world economy.