The reason why China likes Park Geun-hye

This 2005 file photo shows Rep. Park Geun-hye making a speech at Peking University in Beijing. / Korea Times

By Sunny Lee

BEIJING ― There’s something unusual about China’s fascination with president-elect Park Geun-hye, who will be officially sworn in later this month.

It’s good sign for its two neighboring countries that the Middle Kingdom likes her. China also just chose its new leader Xi Jinping.

Yet China’s infatuation with Park has a bewildering quality to it. After all, Park is the daughter of South Korea’s staunch anti-Communist leader: the late president Park Chung-hee. China is run by the Communist Party. The senior Park’s identification with anti-Communism was so strong that the U.S. even tolerated his disregard for human rights and his trampling on freedom of the press.

The newly anointed Park also largely inherited his father’s constituency: South Korea’s conservative camp, which is characterized as pro-America and takes a principled hardline stance towards North Korea.

“Indeed, this is quite an intrigue,” notes Chun Kalim, an expert on Korea-China relations at Hoseo University who often travels to China.

Even before her election, the Chinese media paid uncommon interest to Park. Major newspapers such as the Southern Weekly ran special features about Park. (Her rivals didn’t get that treatment, by the way.) Even the Communist Party-controlled CCTV dispatched reporters to Seoul on election day to air Park’s victorious moment live.

This reporter so far has not encountered a single Chinese person who holds a negative image about Park either. That comes as a great contrast to Chinese perception towards the sitting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who is also conservative and pro-America.

“It’s because she is the first female president. She is a role model for other Asian women, including me,” said Shiam, a blogging name of a Chinese female student from Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Park’s election carries some relevance to Chinese intellectuals too. “The fact that South Korea’s president is female is something very inspiring to China’s elite as well. Inevitably, we will ask the question of when China can also have a female president,” a female editor with China’s Global Times said.

Park garnered 52% of votes during the South Korean election. Given her overwhelming popularity in China, she might have gained a higher support rating had she run for president in China, a joke goes.

Indeed, most Chinese people point to Park’s gender as the prime point of interest, despite the fact that the same factor hardly played any role in the decision making of South Korean voters.

Chinese media outlets also splashed their description of Park as a “fluent Chinese speaker.” While the gender factor may be controversial, the language factor has played an indisputable role in the favorable perception of the Chinese on Park.

“Park’s ability to speak Chinese is another very important reason why Park is seen favorably by the Chinese,” said Chun at Hoseo University.

“They feel instant affinity with foreigners who speak Chinese. If you speak Chinese, they think you will automatically like other aspects of China as well. So, one’s ability to speak Chinese is a very important factor for the Chinese frame of reference in judging foreigners,” explained Chun.

While there may be something psychological about Chinese affinity with outsiders who speak Chinese, it is not just limited to language. Another important aspect China gleans from Park is her “lineage” as a former president’s daughter. Traditionally, Chinese people attach great importance to one’s family background, even more so than Koreans do.

“It’s another very Chinese thing. Family lineage really matters in China, even today. They can’t help it,” said Chun.

Chinese people also respect Park, 60, who is single for being “stoic.” The Chinese regard her as surpassing the very human desire of wanting to have a family.

Actually, Chinese people actually like her father. Chinese didn’t harbor grudges against Park’s father for being anti-Communist. In fact, according to Jin Jingyi, a Korea expert at Peking University, many Chinese have fond memories of him.

The Chinese perception of Park, the president-elect, is largely channeled from their perception of her father, said Jin. “Under late South Korean President Park Chung-hee, Korea’s economy expanded spectacularly, becoming the envy of other developing countries. China also paid keen attention to Park’s reform drive and referenced to it when China was carrying out its own reform and opening up later.”