Abstract

With the development of new technological revolution, the productivity provided by technological innovation and technological progress will increasingly become the key of deciding the competitive position of a country, an industry and a company. Natural resources will no longer be critical to economic development. The main winning advantage of a country, an industry or a company lies in how much knowledge it can get and how many innovations it can achieve. In the real economy, some countries poor in natural resources, such as Japan and South Korea, depend on constant innovation to gain faster economic growth than the countries rich in natural resources. Therefore, in the era of knowledge economy, if countries, rich in traditional natural resources, do not intensify technological innovation comtemporarily, they will be easily under attack.

Both China and Japan are the economic powers in East Asian. Considering the complementarity of their development levels, the similarity of their economic interests, the proximity of their geographical location, the similarity of their cultural traditions, there are practical guiding and referring meanings to comparatively study the two countries' economic development, economic policy, economic strategy and so on. A country' pattern of participating in international division and trade, and its choice about foreign trade policy and economic development strategy, are inseparable with such factors and conditions as resource endowment, population structure, economic strength, technological level, etc. Thus, it is essential to study the comparative advantage or competitive advantage of countries, industries and enterprises. There are lots of adomestic and foreign literature about the comparative advantage, competitive advantage and related industries, but there are few reseach on the advantages of countries and enterprises. This monographs chooses two great powers of East Asia——China and Japan, comparing horizontally from the three levels of countries，industries, and enterprises, and focusing on analysis of the similarities and differences of Japan'“bubble economy”since the 80's and China' current“economic overheating”, to provide reference for our country' economic and trade policies.

China's 19th Party Congress puts forward the idea of advocating innovation culture and strengthening the creation, protection and application of intellectual property. This is the core of the national development strategy and the key to enhancing the comprehensive national strength. Intellectual property is regarded as an intangible asset by innovative country, and it is the biggest source of innovation and reproduction. However the process of practice, learning and knowledge－building is the fundamentals of innovation. Through empirical analysis, this monographs tries to clarify the causal relationship among a country's knowledge innovation, international competitiveness and foreign economic and trade policy, deepen the theory of comparative advantage, derive knowledge advantage from the comparative advantages and competitive advantages, and provide theoretical basis for our country to develop foreign economic and trade policies in line with their own advantages.

The main results of this monographs are as the following：

First, this monograph first puts in order some theoretical basis such as comparative advantage, its connotation and denotation, competitive advantage, and so on. Then it sums up that, in today' economic globalization, comparative advantage in a sense is represented by knowledge advantage, which is knowledge－centered. In other words, with the world economy transiting from nomadic economy, agricultural economy to industrial economy, information economy and even knowledg economy, the basis of enterprise competitiveness shifts gradually from absolute advantage to comparative advantage, from comparative advantages to competitive advantages, and then from competitive advantage to knowledge advantage.

Second, this monograph takes patents as example and carries out empirical analyses of patent applications, patents granted, the import and export volume of foreign trade, as well as the causal relationship among them. Thus it demonstrats that, in the era of knowledge economy, a country's sustained ability of independent innovation is vital to improving its trade competitiveness and even national competitiveness. In addition, through historical data and cross－section data in recent years, this monographs carries out a comparative analysis of the two countries and the results show that, China's innovation input and output lag far behind that of Japan. In spite of most indi cators obviously improving in recent years and the growth rate being in world's front rank, these still do not match the great power status of China.

Third, this monograph compares knowledge innovation and the enhancement of international competitiveness in China and Japan from three levels of enterprise（micro）, industry（meso）, national（macro）. The competitiveness of leading and strategic industry determines the country's overall competitiveness, and technical standards decide the competitiveness of enterprises and industries, and independent innovation ability is an important guarantee for technical standards. Therefore, if technical standards are the embodiment of national competitiveness, independent innovation ability is the core of national competitiveness.

Fourth, this monograph makes comparison based on the time period latitude of the 30 years after China's reform and opening up and the 60 years post－war in Japan. China's and Japan's foreign trade policies bear much similarities in that period, especially in their high－speed growth period. But there are also many differences between the two because of China'unique stage of economic development, economic structure, strategic policy, etc. Facing expectations of RMB appreciation and trade war pressures home and abroad, we should learn from the previous lessons of Japanese government, meanwhile combining the reality of our country to deal correctly.

Fifth, this monograph points out that, whether implementing the original strategy or choosing new strategies, in order to maintain sustained economic development, we must attach importance to technological progress and innovation. China, bearing unbalanced economic development, provides suitable conditions and soils for a variety of trade theories. Therefore, China suits for diversified trade strategies. The analyses of knowledge advantage strategy of developed countries tell us that, knowledge has become the main impetus of a country's economic growth. The view of this monographs is that, in addition to absorbing the reasonable elements of predecessors'strategic views, we can redouble our efforts to cultivate the national knowledge advantage from such aspects as intellectual property rights and its protection, knowledge innovation, knowledge cultivation, knowledge transformation and so on.

The primary innovations include：

First, previous scholars have carried out extensive research, using patents to analyze innovation activities, from macro perspectives, national or international process of innovation, industrial point of view, micro perspectives, etc. But, the vast majority of researches are aiming at the developed countries, and very little research on developing countries. For the relationship between patent innovation activities and foreign trade competitiveness, empirical research from the quantitative view is still blank in academia. Through Johansen's Cointegration Test, Granger Causality Test and other methods, this dissertation verifies the direct promoting effect of a country's invention patents on its export trade. Tests also manifest that the innovative activities in Japan play a more significant role in enhancing its export than in China. These show that in the era of knowledge economy, a country's sustainable ability of independent innovation is the key to trade and national competitiveness.

Second, the majority of researches on the economic and trade policy in China and Japan by previous scholars are phased analysis and implications for China, aiming at a certain stage, or the competitiveness comparison aiming at a certain area（industry）, not yet combining the competitiveness of the three levels throughout the study:countries（macro level）, industries（meso level）and enterprises（micro level）. This monographs selects the two East Asian powers, China and Japan, tries to make horizontal comparison from the three levels, explore the interrelationship among the three levels of competitiveness, and provide ideas to foster specific advantages of specific levels at specific stages of economic and trade development.

Third, the majority of studies on economic and trade policies by previous scholars aim at the United States, the European Union and other developed economies, mostly being comparision between developed and developing countries, and very little among East Asian countries（many researches on East Asia integration, such as the China－Japan－South Korea Free Trade Area, 10+3, 10+6, etc.）. China and Japan are the economic powers in East Asian. Considering the complementarity of their development levels, the similarity of their economic interests, the proximity of their geographical location, the similarity of their cultural traditions, it is particularly suitable to comparatively study the experiences and lessons of the two countries on their opening－up roads. The purpose of this monographs is not simply to absorb the lessons of Japan, but to draw the direction and foundation of cultivating advantages through comparison at all levels, and provide ideas for China's foreign trade policy reform.

Fourth, previous scholars mostly make comparative study of comparative advantages and competitive advantage in certain area（industry）in different countries（regions）, and then learn from each other. But very few researches are about how to de velop, deepen or evolute the theory of comparative advantage on its own. Through empirical analyses, this monographs tries to deepen the theory of comparative advantage, derive knowledge advantage from the analyses of comparative advantages and competitive advantage, set forth on the relationship among the three advantages, establish the concept of knowledge, emphasize the core position of knowledge competitiveness in the era of knowledge economy, and then put forward policy recommendations on the protection and utiliztion of intellectual property rights in Chinese enterprises.

Key words:Comparative advantage; Competitive advantage; Knowledge advantage; Foreign trade policy