On July 3 and July 4, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) made a state visit to South Korea at the head of a huge delegation of more than 200 people. Xi’s trip to Seoul attracted attention from around the world, and with good reason.
On the surface, Xi was making a return visit following South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s trip to China in June last year, but in fact it is significant in a number of other ways.
This was Xi’s first visit to South Korea since taking office as president last year.
It should be noted that he did not visit China’s close ally North Korea first. This departure from the previous practice of China’s leaders indicates that China’s longstanding relations with North Korea are no longer as close as its ties with South Korea.
China’s relations with South Korea have developed very fast since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992. China has benefited from South Korea’s support in regional international affairs, while South Korea has also been happy to be a close partner with China. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has been getting along very well with South Korean UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Ban, for his part, has lived up to his native country’s expectations by liaising with China, and South Korea has taken advantage of China’s power to counter Japan and say no to the US when the need arises.
Economic relations between South Korea and China have also been drawing ever closer. China is already South Korea’s biggest economic partner, and South Korea has greater investments in China than any other country. South Korean products face little competition in China and are backed by South Korea’s cultural and creative industries. Trade between the two countries has been climbing steadily, and trade officials believe that total bilateral trade may exceed US$300 billion within the next few years, leaving Japan far behind.
In recent times, relations between China and Japan have suffered heavily from their dispute concerning sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). South Korea’s relations with Japan have also been tense because of their contested sovereignty over the Liancourt Rocks, which are known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, and US efforts to mediate have not made much difference.
China and South Korea’s common enmity with Japan has made the summit between the two leaders all the more important.
One of the results of their talks has been to set up a policy dialogue mechanism between their respective political parties, building their strategic partnership and raising it to a new level. This amounts to a declaration that relations between China and South Korea are getting closer, while both of them are distancing themselves from Japan, effectively joining hands to confront it.
During the talks between Xi and Park, the two sides agreed that nuclear weapons are a major threat to peace in northeast Asia and the world, and that they would work hard to promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and create conditions for a resumption of the six-party Korean peace talks involving North and South Korea, China, the US, Japan and Russia. However, the six-party talks have been stalled ever since North Korea conducted its first atom bomb test in September 2006, and it will not be easy to restart them.
The two sides also agreed to strengthen their cooperation in economics and trade. They said that they hoped to sign a formal China-South Korea free-trade agreement this year and to actively promote many kinds of popular interchange activity between the two countries.
The two leaders also signed a series of 10 documents pledging deeper cooperation in fields such as diplomacy, economics and culture, following similar agreements signed in June last year.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will certainly not be happy about all this. One indication of this is that North Korea launched three missiles into the Sea of Japan on June 26, followed by another two short-range guided missiles on June 29. It is estimated that North Korea launched at least seven guided or unguided missiles during the week preceding Xi’s visit to South Korea, and the message it intended to convey to China and South Korea is very clear.
Japan, too, is likely to be unhappy about the rapprochement between China and South Korea. Just as Xi was visiting South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that, in view of North Korea’s announcement that it would soon set up a special committee of inquiry into the kidnapping of Japanese citizens, Japan would remove some of its economic sanctions against North Korea. The significance of this development at such a sensitive moment goes without saying.
The US is also carefully observing the development of relations between China and South Korea. Although South Korea attaches great importance to its alliance with the US, it has so far not joined the US-led theater ballistic missile defense system. This shows that South Korea is doing its best to maintain the extent of its strategic freedom. Without doubt, South Korea’s enhanced cooperation with China gives it greater freedom to maneuver in its international relations.
One cause for concern is that if China and South Korea sign a free-trade agreement this year, it will have considerable implications for Taiwan. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has voiced his anxiety about this, but apart from that, it is uncertain whether government and business in Taiwan are prepared to respond to this approaching tidal wave.
Lee Ming is dean of National Chengchi University’s College of International Affairs.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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