The Taiwanese government yesterday congratulated South Korea on its snap presidential election on Tuesday, which was won by Lee Jae-myung of the opposition Democratic Party.
President William Lai (賴清德) extended his congratulations to the people of South Korea and to Lee, on behalf of the government and people of the Republic of China, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said.
Taiwan and South Korea share the values of freedom and democracy, and have long enjoyed close interactions in various fields such as trade and culture, Kuo said.
Photo: CNA
Lai expressed the hope that through joint efforts by both sides, Taiwan and South Korea would continue to expand cooperation and exchanges in trade, technology, education and culture, and would work together to contribute to democracy, peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, Kuo said.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered Taiwan’s congratulations to the South Koreans and their government for once again electing a head of state “through a peaceful and democratic process.”
The South Korean government has in recent years repeatedly reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and security across the Taiwan Strait, indicating that Taipei and Seoul value safeguarding regional peace and prosperity, and stopping the expansion of authoritarianism, it said.
In response to Lee’s inaugural speech yesterday, some Taiwanese political experts said that Taiwan has an opportunity to grow trade and economic ties with South Korea, but should expect tough going in security matters.
Lee of the left-leaning Democratic Party defeated the People Power Party’s (PPP) Kim Moon-soo in a landslide, two months after the impeachment of former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol of the PPP, whose declaration of martial law plunged South Korea into chaos.
The administration would emphasize repairing the political divide in South Korea and reaching a trade deal with US President Donald Trump, Lee said in his inaugural speech, which largely avoided making a firm commitment in the Taiwan Strait.
Lee’s foreign policy would depart from his predecessor’s pro-US stance, former National Security Council deputy secretary-general Philip Yang (楊永明) said.
South Korea is expected to chart a pragmatic course that is neither anti-US nor pro-China, he said, adding that Lee is keen to move away from taking a side.
The Lee administration’s foreign policy would likely represent a return to Seoul’s historical preference for a policy of non-interference in cross-strait affairs, he said.
Yoon’s preference for the US and desire to expand South Korea’s role in the US-led regional security framework would likely be abandoned, he added.
South Korea is likely to keep its bilateral security arrangements with the US and Japan that predated Yoon’s presidency unchanged, Yang said.
Paradoxically, the Lee administration’s refusal to take sides in the competition between China and the US might grant Taiwan more room to negotiate with Seoul over economic, trade and technology issues, he said.
The meaning of Lee’s promise to pursue pragmatic diplomacy remains to be seen, as the term is little more than a catchy campaign slogan at the moment, said Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁), a professor at the Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies at National Sun Yat-sen University.
Lee would be constrained by geopolitical forces and a strong anti-China sentiment among South Koreans, he said.
Lee previously deprioritized negotiations with Trump and criticized joint military drills with the US forces as acts of provocation against North Korea, but has walked back both positions since then, Kuo said.
The US is South Korea’s second-biggest trade partner and commands considerable ability to inflict economic and political pain on the Lee administration, he said.
Close security cooperation between the two nations is inevitable to counter North Korea, which the US regards as a de facto nuclear power, he said.
Lee has criticized Japan’s handling of its World War II history on multiple occasions and his government is likely to freeze, if not altogether end, the enhanced bilateral military cooperation that Yoon’s office had sought, he said.
Trilateral talks between the US, Japan and South Korea at Camp David, Maryland, would likely be a thing of the past, he added.
Yoon had been the most friendly South Korean leader toward Taiwan since 1992, when the two nations severed diplomatic ties, Kuo said.
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