By Kim Tong-hyung
China is the machine that drives global capitalism. And this is a fact that appears to be tattooed in the minds of policymakers here who frequently speechify about how the future of Korea’s export-dependent economy will depend on its run in the world’s fastest growing market.
But after wheeling and dealing with the Middle Kingdom for two decades and absorbing all the flip-flopping and shenanigans, Korean officials admit that China has become the country’s most obnoxious trade partner for its obstinacy, arrogance, clumsiness and ubiquity.
It appears that the exploding controversy over the four Korean human rights activists detained in China is providing the latest stress test to the bond between the Northeast Asian neighbors.
While Korean authorities have verbally assured a safe return for Kim Young-hwan and his colleagues, they have been mixing these bold comments with attempts to play down the issue and what it means to wider Korea-China relations.
The all bark, no bite bureaucratic reaction was predictable _ as it was familiar. After establishing a diplomatic relationship 20 years ago, Korea and China have shared frequent stretches of uneasiness and conflict. And when push comes to shove, it was normally the Koreans who had to swallow their pride.
Getting across the stories about Kim and the tensions created between the two countries, alert newspaper readers will probably be thinking garlic, mobile phones and kimchi.
Cattiness between the two countries dates back to what the media still ridicules as the Great Garlic War of 2000, when an angry China barred imports of Korean mobile phones and polyethylene in retaliation for Seoul’s punitive tariffs on Chinese garlic.
Negotiators from both countries scrambled to clear the air in the coming weeks, but from the very beginning the outcome of the dispute seemed plain as a pikestaff.
Chinese garlic exports at the time were valued at around 11 billion won, or around $9 million at the exchange rate then. Koreans were selling 600 billion won worth of mobile phones and polyethylene in China.
Essentially, Korea hit China with a feather and then got a sledgehammer dropped on its head. And since China wasn’t a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the time, the Koreans had nowhere to complain to.
The government eventually gave in and agreed to allow an annual 32,000 tons of Chinese garlic to be imported on sub-50 percent tariffs. Its previous attempt to raise the tariff on Chinese garlic from 30 percent to 315 percent to protect local farmers, which had been explained as a ``safeguard’’ against a rapid increase in imports, was looking extremely ridiculous.
The garlic fiasco proved to be a preview of how the Korea-China relationship panned out over the next decade. It’s increasingly difficult for Korean officials to display fortitude when the country’s economic dependence on China raises questions about overreliance.
The volume of trade between the two countries was around $6.4 billion in 1992 when diplomatic relations were established. The exchange of goods and services has since increased by more than 30-fold, measured at over $200 billion last year. China replaced the United States as Korea’s major export market a few years ago and its lead has been cementing. And so has its ego.
Officials in Seoul sparked a feud in 2005 when they banned Chinese-made kimchi, Korea’s staple dish of fermented cabbage, after the eggs of parasitic worms were found in some samples. China retaliated by prohibiting imports of kimchi and several other foods from Korea, saying they too contained parasite eggs.
Again, it was the Koreans who backed down as they had much more to lose. The country was just starting to promote kimchi as an international industry and could ill-afford to let the parasite debate smear what had been a squeaky-clean image.
Perhaps China’s most stunning display of disrespect came last year when a Korean coastguard was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman in an operation to apprehend a Chinese vessel operating illegally near Korean waters. Beijing initially acted as if the incident never happened, only issuing a dry expressing of regret a full-day later after being hit with media criticism.
Chinese fishing boats in recent years have been frequently caught fishing in Korean waters, sometimes leading to violent clashes with Korean maritime police, but the Chinese government has yet to show serious commitment to resolve the problem.
It was just earlier this month when, incredibly, another Chinese fisherman swung a knife at Korean coastguard officers. The Korean response essentially was, ``umm, so are you guys ready to talk about that free trade agreement again?’’ The negotiations about the free trade pact between the two countries really did begin the very next day.
All the defeats and embarrassment have stripped Korean authorities of any semblance of pride, critics say. And as a result, the Korea-China relationship in politics, business and finance is found to be as lopsided as the one between Tom and Jerry. Only, it’s the mouse that is beaten, harassed and laughed at before coming back with a dozy grin to take some more.