ED Diplomatic dilemma
Korea needs to strike balance in Sino-US rivalry
In the ever-shifting dynamics over trade, technology and the war on COVID-19, South Korea finds itself increasingly between the United States and China and having to ask itself if it will have to choose between the two. Such a prospect is not a desirable option for Korea, a country with the fourth largest economy in Asia and 12th largest in the world.
On Saturday, U.S. President Trump as chairman of this year's G7 summit said he would like to expand the meeting, and invited South Korea, Russia, India and Australia to join. He referred to the G7 as a “very outdated group” that does not properly reflect what is going on in the world.
The invitation itself was a pat on the back for South Korea and its inflated status in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the invitation seems to come with a catch; the White House said that the extended summit would discuss the future of China among other things. That places Seoul in a challenging position to say the least. The rather noncommittal comment by Cheong Wa Dae that it was “aware” of the reports and that the matter is to be discussed with the United States in the future, veils Seoul's full-throttle diplomatic calculations as to how to avoid such a scenario.
The United States is Seoul's ally in defense and security, and Korea's second-largest trading partner. It is also a pivotal partner in the Korea peace initiative where President Moon Jae-in has proactively mediated in U.S.-North Korea summits. China is Korea's No. 1 trading partner with whom the Moon administration has been coordinating for President Xi Jinping's visit. The Chinese president's visit would provide a certain amount of resolution between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile battery here in 2017.
A larger G7 summit is the latest issue escalating the Sino-US war of nerves. From culpability over the virus outbreak, to jostling over trade and technology leadership, the two are also highly divided over a Hong Kong security law and the city's special status. Seoul has been in this territory before; it is not a stranger to responding to equi-distancing challenges in diplomacy.
It joined the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2015, but allowed the installation of the U.S. anti-ballistic missile battery here despite China's protest, all for the national interest.
It would be hard to dispute that the September summit itself is tenuous as the coronavirus persists. The government should consider attending the summit, and the nation's experts should put their heads together to come up with a strategy that will steer Korea in the uncertain diplomatic waters ahead.
Pundits predict that the era of globalization may well be over with the COVID-19 pandemic. But that should not mean diplomatic polarization. The dire future that the virus outbreak seems to have all but unfurled will require deeper cooperation; not a sharper divide.