Specter of Cold War
China should not overreact to Korea-US drill
More than 100 days have passed since the March sinking of a South Korean warship in the Yellow Sea. An international probe concluded in May that a North Korean submarine torpedoed the 1,200-ton Cheonan, killing 46 sailors. It is regrettable that the Seoul government has done little to call for international condemnation of the North's military provocation.
On June 4, the South sent to the U.N. Security Council a letter asking for action to hold the North culpable for the unprovoked attack. However, Seoul officials cannot but feel frustration over the delayed deliberation at the council due mainly to China's opposition to any move to rebuke the North for incident. Russia is also reluctant to take action against the communist state.
More worrisome is that the South's effort to resolve the incident has become more complicated as China and Russia are continuing to serve as the guardian of the recalcitrant North. To some extent, the ship sinking has provided ammunition for the former Communist bloc to revive the specter of the Cold War against the U.S.-led alliance in Northeast Asia.
Few can deny that South Korea and its allies ― the U.S. and Japan ― have only limited options to hold Pyongyang accountable for the attack. Seoul officials find it more and more difficult to take punitive action against the North. One of the not-so-effective options is a joint naval drill with the U.S. in the Yellow Sea this month.
The planned exercise is designed to prevent a recurrence of such a tragedy by enhancing the South's military preparedness, especially its surveillance on the North's submarines. But now, it is hard to understand why China has reportedly become overly sensitive to the purely defensive drill in the Yellow Sea following the ship sinking.
China started a week-long live-fire drill off its eastern coast on June 30. Its Foreign Ministry said the naval exercise is part of its regular military training. ``This has nothing to do with the situation on the Korean Peninsula," the ministry spokesman Qin Gang said. But the military move has sufficient reason to be seen as a show of force ahead of the South Korea-U.S. drill.
There has been a set of incidents raising worries about a new Cold War era in the 2000s as China was apparently seeking to become a global power amid its fast economic growth. It is certain that China has been increasingly jockeying for regional hegemony. Beijing has often clashed with Washington over many thorny issues such as U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and a visit by the exiled spiritual Tibetan leader Dalai Lama to America.
In conclusion, it is not desirable for China to go back to the Cold War by taking advantage of the tensions on the Korean Peninsula that have been heightened by the precarious North. We hope that China will become a more responsible member of the international community to help settle peace in Northeast Asia.