People's Republic of China–South Korea relations

"China-Korea relations" redirects here. For the relations of South Korea with the Taipei-based government of the Republic of China, which were severed in 1992, see Republic of China-South Korea relations.

People's Republic of China–South Korea relations

China	South Korea

People's Republic of China–South Korea relations refers to the international relations between the People's Republic of China and South Korea. Formal diplomatic relations between Beijing and Seoul were established on August 24, 1992.

Presently, China and South Korea have close ties. China and South Korea vowed to enhance cooperation even further.^[1] China and South Korea recently agreed to boost their current strategic and cooperative partnership.^[2]

Korean War

Main article: Korean War

China participated in the Korean War when it sent the People's Volunteer Army to battle United Nations troops in October 1950. It successfully drove the UN forces out of North Korea, but its own offensive into South Korea was repelled. The Korean War ended by July 1953, resulting in the establishment of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, and the eventual withdraw of Chinese forces.

Post-Korean War

Throughout the Cold War, there were no official relations between communist China and capitalist South Korea. China maintained close relations with North Korea, and South Korea maintained diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan). This hindered trade between Seoul and Beijing, because South Korea was unable to protect its citizens and business interests in China without some form of international agreements. Beijing's economic needs involving South Korea were initially eclipsed by those of Moscow. However, because of secondary economic needs and geographic proximity, South Korea and China began active trade nonetheless.

Relations under Park and Chun (1961–1988)

Junta leader Park Chung Hee initiated and General Chun Doo Hwan advanced a policy of establishing relations with China and the Soviet Union, and attempting to improve those with North Korea. China and the USSR had significant sway in determining the future of the Korean Peninsula. Good relations with old allies of North Korea were therefore integral to the Nordpolitik policy.

Seoul's official contact with Beijing started by the landing of a hijacked Chinese civilian airliner in May 1983. China sent a delegation of thirty-three officials to Seoul to negotiate its return. This marked the beginning of a series of casual exchanges of citizens. For example, in March 1984, a South Korean tennis team visited Kunming for a Davis Cup match with a Chinese team. In April 1984, a thirty-four-member Chinese basketball team arrived in Seoul to participate in the Eighth Asian Junior Basketball Championships. Some Chinese officials reportedly paid quiet visits to South Korea to inspect its industries, while South Korean officials visited China to attend a range of international conferences. Since China and South Korea began indirect trade in 1975, the trade volume has steadily increased.

Late 1980s

Active South Korean-Chinese individual contacts have been encouraged. Academics, journalists, and particularly families divided between South Korea and China were able to exchange visits freely in the late 1980s. Significant numbers of citizens of each country reside in the other. As of 2009^[update], more than 600,000 PRC citizens reside in South Korea, of whom 70% are ethnic Koreans from the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China's Jilin Province and other parts of China, while roughly 560,000 South Korean citizens lived in China.^[3][4]

However, significant barriers to strong trade and relations persisted. The absence of any protections granted by official relations had still remained. Beijing has been politically closer to P'yongyang, and relations with North Korea remained tense and distrustful.

It had been difficult for analysts to predict what effect a political turmoil in the People's Republic of China would have on Sino-Korean relations. After the military putdown of demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in June 1989, Pyongyang predictably came out in support of Beijing's actions. Seoul, on the other hand, did not condone or condemn the actions in Tiananmen Square.

Present

Trade between the two countries continued to increase nonetheless. Furthermore, China has attempted to mediate between North Korea and the United States and between North Korea and Japan and also initiated and promoted tripartite talks—among Pyongyang, Seoul, and Washington.

South Korea had long been an ally of the Republic of China. Diplomatic ties between Seoul and Taipei were nevertheless severed in 1992. Formal diplomatic relations were established between Seoul and Beijing on August 24, 1992.

After the KORUS FTA (United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement) was finalized on June 30, 2007, the Chinese government has immediately begun seeking an FTA agreement with South Korea.^{[citation needed]} The FTA between Korea and China are under discussion. South Korea has been running a trade surplus with China, which hit a record US$ 32.5 billion in 2009.^[5]

It was announced on 10 January 2011 that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) established two teams of China experts and language specialists under its department handling Chinese affairs in an effort to strengthen diplomacy. An analytical team will report on political, economic and foreign affairs developments in China, and a monitoring team consisting of seven language specialists will report on public sentiment in China. The Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS), a think-tank affiliated to MOFAT, also launched a centre dedicated to China affairs, which will act as a hub to collate research on China undertaken in Korea.^[6]

Historical issues

Koreans have been nervous towards Chinese because of historical claims surrounding Goguryeo and its related kingdoms.^[7] The PRC government has recently begun the Northeast Project, a controversial Chinese government research project claiming Goguryeo and other various Korean kingdoms, including Gojoseon, Buyeo and Balhae, to be Chinese states and thus part of historical Chinese territory. This sparked a massive uproar in South Korea when the project was widely publicized in 2004.^[8]

Japan

Main article: Japan-People's Republic of China relations

Main article: Japan-Korea relations

The antecedent of the South Korea government received the support of China.

Both the governments of the China and South Korea take a firm stand on issues in relation to Japanese war crimes. Korea had been under Japanese rule after the collapse of the Joseon Dynasty in 1910. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan invaded and occupied eastern China.

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army carried out many war crimes against both Chinese and Koreans (comfort women, Nanking Massacre etc.). This has caused both China and South Korea to oppose the Japanese government's current stand on war crimes committed in World War II. Issues where both the Chinese and South Korean governments stand together include the controversial visits of Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine, the Japanese history textbook controversies, and comfort women.

See also

• China-Japan-South Korea trilateral meeting, 2008
• Nordpolitik
• People's Republic of China-North Korea relations

References

1. ^ http://www.china.org.cn/international/news/2008-05/29/content_15531006.htm
2. ^ http://www.korea.net/news.do?mode=detail&guid=47084
3. ^ Kim, Kyoungwha (2009-01-09), "South Koreans Quit China as Yuan’s Gain Raises Cost of Living", Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ahEY6TmQOzIc&refer=home, retrieved 2009-05-04 
4. ^ "More Than 1 Million Foreigners Live in Korea", Chosun Ilbo, 2009-08-06, http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/08/06/2009080600243.html, retrieved 2009-10-18 
5. ^ "S Korea posts record-high trade surplus in 2009". 2010-01-14. http://en.ce.cn/World/biz/201001/14/t20100114_20800769.shtml. 
6. ^ "Korea strengthens China analyst team". 2011-01-12. http://www.junotane.com/analytical-updates/korea-strengthens-china-analyst-team.html. 
7. ^ 02Gries.pmd
8. ^ Donga Monthly. http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=101&oid=037&aid=0000006961

External links

• Library of Congress, A Country Study: South Korea
• Coping with Giants: South Korea’s Responses to China’s and India’s Rise by Chung Min Lee, Strategic Asia 2011-12: Asia Responds to Its Rising Powers - China and India (September 2011)