New cooperative era of Sino-S.Korean ties needed

Friday will mark the 20th anniversary of Sino-South Korean relations. The formation of ties between two countries that fought each other in the Korean War, an explosion of the Cold War into a full-blown armed conflict, was the prelude to a new order in Northeast Asia. The two neighbors have achieved astonishing growth in their relations both quantitatively and qualitatively over the past two decades. When Seoul and Beijing formed ties in 1992, then Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng said, “Water flowing will become a stream.” Bilateral relations and exchanges, however, have exceeded the size of a stream and transformed into a massive stream of the Yangtze River in China.

Bilateral trade has shot up 35.6 times from 6.38 billion U.S. dollars in 1992 to 220.62 billion dollars 20 years later. South Korea has benefited from China`s rise in that China`s market is massive amid robust growth of more than 8 percent despite global economic crises. South Korea, however, should continue to strengthen export competitiveness and diversify its markets to ensure that its increasing dependence on China will not come back to haunt the South Korean economy.

Sino-South Korean ties have been upgraded from a “cooperative partnership” to a “comprehensive cooperative partnership” and further to a “strategic cooperative partnership,” but often end up being blank rhetoric. China unilaterally backed North Korea’s stance on the sinking of the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan, which was clearly found to have been caused by the North’s torpedo attack according to a study conducted by international experts, and blocked the U.N. Security Council from approving sanctions on Pyongyang. Beijing refuses to recognize North Korean defectors in China as refugees and insists on repatriating them back to the North. Chinese authorities also deny torturing Kim Young-hwan, a South Korean activist promoting human rights in the North. Xi Jinping, the leading candidate as the next Chinese president, said in 2010, “The anti-U.S., pro-North Korea war (Korean War) was a just war that fought aggressors,” comments that distort history and are anachronistic.

China maintains the suspicion that South Korea and Japan seek to join hands with the U.S., which has declared a shift of focus toward Asia, to block China. The South Korea-U.S. alliance, which started as a military alliance to counter North Korea’s threat, seeks to ensure peace and security in Northeast Asia rather than target China. This is also why U.S. forces in South Korea need to stay on the Korean Peninsula even after the dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the Koreas growing closer to reunification. South Korea should formulate a plan to reach an “alliance with the U.S. and peace with China” under which Seoul boosts its alliance with Washington and achieves harmony with Beijing.

There is no reason that South Korea and China cannot develop a joint vision for the future of Northeast Asia. Both countries agree that North Korea under young leader Kim Jong Un should pursue opening and reform, give up nuclear weapons, avoid a sudden collapse of the North, and thus continue to establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. For South Korea to achieve its goal of reunification, China’s cooperation is essential. Seoul must proactively persuade Beijing that a unified Korea will be no threat to China, but rather crucial to peace and prosperity. South Korea and China will inaugurate new leaders next year, and should open a new era of bilateral cooperation by displaying the spirit of “admitting their differences yet seeking common ground.”