Between US and China

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Opinion

Sat, April 21, 2018 | 19:00

Times Column

Between US and China

Posted : 2017-11-08 18:19

Updated : 2017-11-09 09:27

By Na Jeong-ju

Last week's agreement between South Korea and China to normalize bilateral relations is being hailed as a diplomatic achievement of the Moon Jae-in administration.

Hopes are high here that it will be a turning point for the Seoul-Beijing ties, which had been soured over the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea. Moon's aides proudly said the bilateral talks on resolving THAAD-related issues began right after President Moon Jae-in held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Berlin in July.

Optimism prevails now in Seoul about the prospects of relations with Beijing.
Moon and Xi will meet again next week on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Danang, Vietnam, to discuss follow-up measures to the agreement.

High on the agenda may be restoring the "strategic cooperative partnership" between the two countries and the scrapping of economic retaliatory measures

China had taken against South Korea over the THAAD deployment. Conservative politicians here are expressing concerns about Moon's approach toward China, claiming his "pivot to China" will make the U.S. uncomfortable and could jeopardize the alliance between Seoul and Washington.

For Moon, however, thawing ties with China will be an opportunity to break South Korea's diplomatic deadlock over North Korea's nuclear program. Likewise, improving relations with South Korea could mean a fresh start for Xi in addressing North Korea-related issues as China is under growing pressure from the United States to maximize the use of its leverage on the North.

In this sense, embracing Seoul could be part of a new game plan against Washington by the Chinese leader, who has successfully cemented his power through the latest Communist Party congress.

South Korea's efforts to restore relations with China were also a key topic at Moon's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on Nov. 7 in Seoul. This was the first measurement of how Washington feels about Moon's diplomacy with China because the Moon-Trump summit took place only days after Seoul and Beijing agreed to bring their relations back on track.

During a joint press conference after the summit, Moon made it clear that his pursuit of "balanced diplomacy" does not mean he will stay neutral between the two superpowers when they are in dispute.

"That was about expanding our diplomatic frontier. I want to consolidate relations with China while keeping alliance with the U.S. strong," Moon said. "I talked about balance because we need to enhance relations with not only the U.S. and China, but also countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union. I believe diversifying our diplomatic relations is the key to maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula and, by extension, Northeast Asia."

Trump supported Moon. And he also praised President Xi on his efforts to contain North Korea, saying he has been "really, very, very helpful" in dealing with the North. Asked about concerns in South Korea that the country has been sidelined in talks to resolve the North Korea nuclear issue, Trump said there will be no South Korea skipping.

"South Korea is very important to me and there will be no skipping South Korea," Trump said.

This suggests Trump thinks closer relations between Seoul and Beijing are helpful in handling Pyongyang at the moment. And this is absolutely true. China has long been criticized for using North Korea to defend its interest in its rivalry with the U.S.

But there are positive signs that it is changing. While toughening its sanctions on Pyongyang, Beijing, at the same time, is calling for dialogue among concerned nations to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear problem.

This would have been impossible if there was no mutual understanding between Trump and Xi that Pyongyang's nuclear program hurts their common interests in the region.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr