ED Reviving China ties

Patience, imagination, practicality in need

Korea and China didn’t even stage a joint celebration to mark the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. Their leaders’ congratulatory statements revealed the low point of the relationship. President Moon Jae-in expressed his hopes for a substantial strategic partnership with China, while Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the fair settlement of their differences.

The two didn’t explicitly mention what chilled their relationship _ Seoul’s decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile interceptor battery, and Beijing’s demand to remove it.

There appears to be no easy and prompt fix. Beijing sees THAAD as an extension of its hegemonic standoff with the United States, recognizing it as part of the U.S. missile defense shield aimed at Chinese encirclement. Seoul takes it as a self-defense move against North Korea’s growing missile threat and is deploying it at the strong suggestion of the U.S., its key ally.

But this stalemate shouldn’t stop the two neighbors from reaching out to one another.

As a matter of fact, Korea went the extra mile to show China how seriously it takes China ties. During a celebratory dinner hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Seoul Thursday, Korea was represented by a rather high-powered delegation. The official delegates included National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, top presidential security adviser Chung Eui-yong and Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam. Unofficially on hand were Moon Chung-in, President Moon’s national security mentor, and Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk.

Their presence has helped maintain contacts with China at the senior level, keeping dialogue going and preventing bilateral ties from degenerating further. This is the right long-term patient approach that will help ensure the two countries’ ties flourish again, once the THAAD issue is passed.

Korea should also adopt an imaginative and bold policy. At the moment, Korea is looked at and acts as a cameo in the grand theater of the clash of interests between the U.S. and China, and THAAD only confirms this status. But on the flip side of this equation, there is a potential for Korea to become a main actor that can mediate the two big powers’ struggle. Korea has grown to be a global industrial power and strong military power but it tends to see itself as a small fry in the big pond of global diplomacy. The nation should free itself from these self-imposed constraints in order to lcreate solutions to the THAAD dispute with China and play the role that fits its size.

It is worth considering launching a China bureau to pursue related policies with consistency and foster China experts at a time when calls are rising for the overhaul of the foreign ministry. Together, recommended is a dual-track approach _ boosting regional government-level contacts while the central governments’ ties are on the doldrums.

Above all, it takes two to tango.China has to rethink its relationship with Korea because both Korea and China have a lot more to lose.