The article discusses the features of the East Asian machine-building cluster. It differs from the older machine - building complexes - the Western European and North American ones-mainly in the export orientation of production. If the share of intermediate products in East Asian countries ' imports exceeds their share in their exports, assembly plants predominate in their industries. International production chains are characterized: production of parts and components in the countries of the East Asian region-assembly in China - export to the USA, Europe and Japan. Changes in the structure of such chains in this region in 2007 - 2011 are shown on the example of the telecommunications industry. It is established that the structure of US imports of telecommunications products from Asian countries has changed in favor of China. The technological level of telecommunications products exported by China has significantly increased, and the share of parts and components in its exports has increased.

Keywords: geoeconomics, mechanical engineering, cluster, East Asia, trade flows, cooperation, international division of labor.

There are three main centers of machine and equipment production in the global economy today: two traditional ones (Western Europe and North America) and one relatively new one in the Asia-Pacific region (East Asia). Taking into account the intensive cooperation ties between them, they can be considered as three regional machine-building clusters, which together make up a global cluster [6]. The beginning of the XXI century was a time of intense shifts on the geo-economic map of the world. In particular, the East Asian region has become the largest supplier of machinery and equipment to the world market (Table 1). However, in terms of the nature and scheme of formation, it differs significantly from the "old" machine - building complexes-the Western European and North American ones. While there the machine-building industry developed under the influence of the needs of the domestic market, in Asia it was initially focused on meeting external demand.

INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOR IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

The rapid growth of the East Asian machine-building cluster was achieved primarily due to the development of assembly plants, as evidenced by the special structure of foreign trade in goods for final use.

As you know, commodity exports by end use are divided into final demand goods (final demand goods), including investment and consumer goods (capital and consumer goods), and intermediate products (intermediate goods). A distinctive feature of the foreign trade of dynamically developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region is the predominance of imports of intermediate products over their exports.

According to the WTO, in 2009 and in previous years, the share of intermediate products in imports (excluding the fuel sector) in the region was significantly higher than in exports (Table 2). This means that Asian countries imported components and semi-finished products, and exported finished products. Among the 12 largest Asian participants in international trade (tab. 3) In 8 countries-Vietnam, China, India, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong - the share of intermediate products in imports was higher than in exports. The largest gap was observed in Vietnam and China, which indicates the predominantly assembly nature of their production. The smallest gap was in Hong Kong, where the share of intermediate products in imports and exports was almost equal.

Thus, the young East Asian engineering cluster as a whole specializes in relatively less complex operations, since the assembly of parts and components is usually less knowledge-intensive than their manufacture. At the same time, almost 2/3 of Asian imports of intermediate products were domestic-

Vyacheslav V. SOKOLOV, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Russian Federation, Moscow (svv7@cbr.ru).

Table 1. Geographical structure of imports of machinery and transport equipment in the main regions of the world in 2010, classification by origin, % of total value

¹ The most important regions are suppliers of machinery and transport equipment, which together account for over 90% of the supply of these products. Calculated from: [8, pp. 226-227].

Table 2. Share of intermediate products in non-fuel exports and imports in various regions of the world, %

Source: [10, p. 83].

Table 3. Share of intermediate products in non-fuel imports and exports of Asian countries in 2009, %

Source: [10, p. 85].

riregional origin [10, p. 83], which indicates a high concentration of international production chains in this region.

In the exports of Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan, the share of intermediate products exceeds the share of imports. This means that the manufacturing industry of these countries specializes specifically in the manufacture of parts and components, which indicates its higher technological level compared to the industry of its neighbors in the region.

At the same time, according to the WTO and the Institute for Emerging Economies of the Japan Foreign Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO), the content of imported components in China's computer and electronic equipment exports increased from 38% in 2000 to 44% in 2008. During the same time, Malaysia's exports decreased from 74% to 59%., in Thailand's exports-from 65 to 58% [10, p. 101]. In the latter case, analysts attribute the drop to additional TNK investments in the production of computer parts and components in South-East Asian countries carried out as part of the overall outsourcing strategy. As for China, it seems that as the technological level of electronics produced in the country increases, the need for imported components is growing. Thus, the gap in the content of imported components in exports between China and Southeast Asian countries has narrowed, but the content of such components in the exports of Malaysia and Thailand remains higher.

WTO and IDE-JETRO experts describe the evolution of the structure of production chains in the Asia-Pacific region as follows. In the mid-1980s, East Asian production chains were located primarily in four countries: Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. At the same time, Indonesia and Malaysia served as sources of natural resources for Japanese industry. After the "Plaza Agreement" of 1985, which led to the appreciation of the yen against the US dollar, Japanese companies (which continued to rely on the resources of Indonesia and Malaysia) We have stepped up the movement of production to other East Asian countries, especially the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Accordingly, parts and components made in Japan were shipped to other countries for assembly.

Since 1995, the United States has been involved in production relations with Asian countries, which joined Japanese production chains passing through Malaysia and Singapore, and later established production cooperation with the Philippines. The decline in the exchange rates of Asian countries against the dollar and yen after the abandonment of their pegging to the dollar as a result of the 1997 - 1998 crisis contributed to a new wave of transfer of production from more developed countries to them. Since 2000, a new major participant in the division of labor in the Asia-Pacific region has joined the scheme - China, which has established close industrial ties with the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, and through the latter-with Japan.

Table 4. Hourly wages in industry in a number of countries, US level=100

Source: [7].

As a result, by 2005, China had become the center of the region's industrial relations, the largest market for intermediate products, where end-use goods were produced for export to the United States and European countries. The production chains that pass through China are highly complex and fragmented, and include value added created in each of the participating countries. Accordingly, the competitiveness of Chinese exports is due not only to the low cost of labor, but also to the high technological level of components from other Asian countries included in the finished product [10, p.60, 74]. In general, Asia-Pacific countries, with the exception of Japan, still have cheaper labor compared to the United States and Western European countries. Mexico and some Central and Eastern European countries are close to them in terms of wages (Table 4).

Thus, if the Western European and North American clusters are dominated by countries with high wages, and the low-paid periphery occupies a relatively smaller part of the cluster, then in the East Asian cluster

The" highly paid " core (Japan) is relatively small. Most of the enterprises here are located on the periphery, where low wages remain. As a result, the Asia-Pacific region has developed a scheme of trade and production relations, called the "three - pole model": East Asian countries, except for China, produce the most complex parts and components, and then ship them to the Middle Kingdom - all assembly operations are carried out there-finished products are exported to the US market for consumption [10, p.76].

The presented scheme should be clarified, drawing attention to the fact that finished products from China, in addition to the United States, are also delivered to Europe and again to East Asian countries. All these countries, primarily Japan, are sources of capital for Chinese production [9, p. 21]. In terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, China (excluding Hong Kong) consistently ranked second in the world after the United States in 2009-2012 [11, Annex Table 1]. In 2011-2012, Japan ranked second in the world in terms of foreign direct investment placement after the United States (in 2009). it was the third, in 2010 - the seventh). Hong Kong consistently ranked among the top five net exporters of FDI in 2009-2012 [11, Annex Table 2].

PRODUCTION OF TELECOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT

Using the example of the production of telecommunications equipment (MSW) - one of the most important branches of mechanical engineering in the East Asian region-we will show how the structure of international production chains passing through the region changed during the global economic crisis and subsequent economic recovery. To track changes in the location of production and distribution between end-use countries, we will consider the dynamics of trade in the industry as a whole, and in the context of individual parts and components of MSW.

Table 5a-b shows how the structure and geography of MSW imports to the United States, Japan, and China changed during 2008-2011. Chinese imports of MSW with a characteristic intensive counter-trade with Asian countries-8 (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam ¹) almost entirely consisted of parts and components, while the share of finished products in imports from the United States and Japan, including from China, remained significant. This indicates the continuation of the established division of labor scheme: MSW components from Asia-8 and Japan were supplied to China, where the finished products were assembled and exported to the United States and partly to Japan. At the same time, Japanese imports of MSW from the United States consisted almost entirely of parts and components.

In 2008, imports of MSW, including parts and components, increased in the United States and Japan from Asia-8, as well as US imports from China and Chinese imports from the United States, Japan and Asia, respectively-8. At the same time, US imports of finished goods from Japan decreased. Given the continued growth of imports from other countries in the region, this can be regarded as evidence of the displacement of Japanese telecommunications products by goods from China and other countries in East and Southeast Asia.

In 2009 (a year of decline in global production and trade), MSW imports declined in all the areas under consideration. At the same time, the drop in US imports from Japan was the deepest in both finished products and parts and components. China's imports from Japan declined more significantly than Japan's imports from China (reflecting China's position as a center for assembling finished products, including Japanese components). The decline in Japanese imports of telecommunications products from China and Asia-8 was due to a drop in imports of parts and components in general (while imports of finished products increased).

In 2010, trade was recovering from a downturn. Imports of parts and components to the United States from China grew at the fastest pace, far exceeding the level of 2008. Imports from Asia-8 did not reach this level. U.S. imports from Japan continued to decline. At the same time, Japan's imports from China increased almost one and a half times. Imports of finished telecommunications products increased even more strongly, which probably indicates not so much the development of assembly plants in Japan, but an increase in the need for spare parts for already used equipment.

In 2011, US imports of MSW parts and components from China continued to grow. At the same time, the supply of finished products decreased, which led to a decrease in their share in telecommunications.-

¹ These countries are engaged in intensive counter-trade of parts and components of telecommunications equipment with China.

Table 5a. Dynamics of U.S. imports from East Asian countries of telecommunications equipment, including parts and components

¹ Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (see Tables 5a-b). Source: calculated by the author based on Comtrade data [12].

Table 5b. Dynamics of Japan's imports of telecommunications equipment, including parts and components, from East Asia and the United States

Source: calculated by the author based on Comtrade data [13].

In 2007, imports from Asia-8 were at a standstill, with the number of U.S. imports from China rising to 26%, compared to 43% in 2007. Imports of parts and components to the United States from Japan increased by one and a half times, coming close to the level of 2008.However, the import of finished products decreased by more than 1/4, as a result of which the total import of telecommunications products decreased. China, for its part, has dramatically increased the import of MSW parts and components from Asia-8.

Table 5b. Dynamics of China's imports of telecommunications equipment, including parts and components, from East Asia and the United States

Source: calculated by the author based on Comtrade data [14].

In general, compared to the pre-crisis 2007, Chinese imports of MSW parts and components from Asia - 8 in 2011 increased by 46.4%, Japanese-by 12.6%, and American-by 0.6%. Imports to the United States from China increased by 52.9%, to Japan-by 124.6% (!). At the same time, during this period, as a whole, American imports of MSW goods (commodity group 76) from China increased by 17.9%, from Japan - decreased by 31.7%. At the same time, shipments of MSW parts and components (Group 764) from Japan to China decreased by 2.4%, and to the United States - by 32.9%.

The share of parts and components in total US MSW imports from China grew at a faster pace during the period under review; in MSW imports from Japan, it also increased, but due to a reduction in the supply of finished products of the corresponding group. The share of MSW parts and components imported by the United States from eight Asian countries remained virtually unchanged (respectively, the gap between Asia-8 and China in terms of the share of parts and components in MSW exports significantly decreased). Thus, there is every reason to talk about China's expansion in the markets of parts and components, which indicates an increase in the technological level of its exported products.

China continues to assemble finished products from components produced in East Asia and Japan. However, Japan's share as a component supplier is declining. At the same time, Japan's own imports of MSW from China - both in the form of parts and components, and finished products - more than doubled. At the same time, Japanese imports of MSW from the United States, consisting almost entirely of parts and components, decreased significantly, which indicates a weakening of production ties between the United States and Japan.

If we take the combined US MSW imports from all of these East Asian countries, then the import of parts and components increased faster during the boom and decreased more slowly during the downturn than the import of finished products. At the same time, fluctuations in the supply of parts and components from China and eight Asian countries were mostly synchronous with fluctuations in the supply of telecommunications products in general.

The situation is different in the import of Japanese products. In 2008, when total MSW imports from this country began to fall, the supply of parts and components continued to grow. In 2009, shipments to the United States for the entire product group, as well as for parts and components, decreased by almost 1/3 (much stronger than shipments from China and Asia-8). The following year, the decline in imports of parts and components from Japan continued, but the total volume of deliveries for the product group increased. However, in 2011, he

It declined again, with deliveries of parts and components increasing by 50% (despite the effects of the March 11 earthquake).

Thus, Japanese finished products were gradually "washed out" of American imports. Imports of Japanese parts and components increased slightly, in contrast to imports from Asia-8, which remained virtually unchanged. In general, the geographical structure of American imports during the crisis and post-crisis period radically changed in favor of China. In terms of end-use of products, the share of parts and components, i.e. intermediate products, has increased in the US import structure. Perhaps these shifts fit in with the general trend towards the return to the United States of some industrial enterprises that were previously withdrawn abroad [5].

Significant changes are taking place in Japan's international specialization. Its importance as a traditional supplier of telecommunications equipment to the global market is decreasing. The production of a number of highly processed products is being moved from Japan to other countries. So, in 2010, Japan was not among the 14 largest world exporters of television receivers, and in the list of their largest world importers it took the third place. The import of television receivers in 2010 increased by almost one and a half times compared to 2006 [3]. In 2011, the demand for liquid crystal displays produced by Japanese companies decreased, since the process of transition of consumers in developed countries to the corresponding TV models has mostly already been completed [4].

In some high-tech industries, Japanese enterprises have not been able to compete with dynamically developing firms in other East Asian countries. So, in February 2012, the company for the production of RAM chips (DRAM) Elpida Memory declared bankruptcy, which suffered large losses due to competition from South Korean companies that responded more quickly to the changing demand structure (the growth in the use of tablets and smartphones instead of personal computers) [1]. Japanese companies are trying to reverse this trend by introducing new-generation electronics models. So, in October 2012, Sony and Toshiba offered, in particular, ultra-high-definition TVs and hybrid personal computers (tablets and laptops). So far, however, the situation in the Japanese electronics industry remains unfavorable. In 2012, the combined turnover of the four largest Japanese electronics companies-Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic and Sharp-decreased by 7% [2].

* * *

Thus, the period of the global crisis and post-crisis recovery was characterized by an increase in the technological level of China's exports, which intensively replaced Japan in the East Asian production chains in the telecommunications industry. Japan has increasingly transformed itself from a participant in the production process of a number of telecommunications products to an end user. At the same time, the share of parts and components in American imports of telecommunications products increased. Perhaps, in this case, we are talking about the beginning of the restoration of its own industrial base in the United States, including at the expense of assembly plants. However, it is still premature to draw long-term conclusions.

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East Asian Machinery-Building Cluster

SOKOLOV Viacheslav Viacheslavovich, Ph.D. (Economics), Russia, Moscow (svv7@cbr.ru)

The article considers features of the East Asian machinery-building cluster. It differs from the older machinery-building clusters in West Europe and North America primarily. The share of intermediate goods in the imports of the East Asian countries is higher than the share of such goods in their exports. This results from prevalence of the assembly manufactures in their industry. The international supply chains of the region are described as follows: manufacturing parts and components in the countries of East and South-East Asia - assembly in China - exports to USA, Europe and Japan. The changes in the structure of the international supply chains in 2007 - 2011 are shown in the case of telecommunications industry. It is established that the structure of the telecommunications imports of the USA has changed in favor of China. The technological level of the telecommunications equipment exported from China enhanced significantly. The share of parts and components in China's telecommunications exports increased. Imports of telecommunications equipment from Japan to USA diminished whereas its delivery from China to Japan more than doubled. This points to reduction of the role of Japan as the supplier of telecommunications equipment in the world scale.

Keywords: geo-economics, machinery-building, cluster, East Asia, Pacific region, trade flows, cooperation, international division of labor.

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