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Recently, Park Geun-hye hosted a successful state visit of President Xi Jinping. The Chinese President made several positive steps for cooperation. These proposals saw a positive reaction by President Park and observers in Korea. We should analyze this meeting and its results for evolving Sino-Korean relations, as well as regional and global politics.
Korea and China have every reason to cooperate. As major trading partners and two of the region and world's largest economies, both countries gain by further aligning trade, working through barriers to increased commerce, and related matters.
Korea also should consider joining the planned Chinese Development Bank as a partner, on a limited basis. Not to do so forestalls a major avenue of useful development. The Bank will tie China's development to global financial flows.
On matters touching foreign relations, both leaders agreed to the principle of resolving maritime disputes through international law and by peaceful means. All countries need to heed this call. Let's hope the Ieodo dispute will see actions match with words.
Both countries sounded alarms about the recent Japanese decision to allow for greater collective self-defense. Skepticism and alarm have greeted this decision. The world's press heard about Japanese violations of international law and human rights in past wars. The Korean and Chinese people suffered under Japanese aggressions. No one should dispute this fact.
The United States' pivot unfolds; commiseration between Park and Abe; hemming in China by means of Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asian nations. Pledging noninterference in maritime disputes while calling on all parties to resolve matters diplomatically and respect international protocols.
Calling on and succeeding in having all partners in the region condemn North Korean provocations and agreement among all partners to work toward a nonnuclear Korean Peninsula. The pivot to Asia exists to put multilateral incentives behind measures to uphold peaceful international relations. These efforts align all nations with more stable international commerce, trade, and security behaviors.
We thought there was a new world late last century. Global terrorism remains a leading center of security concern; its leading players fail in their aims. Looking at changing events in the Ukraine, Middle East, and Asia, there is still some life in old triangles. Russia is still a power to reckon with, in global military terms. China is a rising great power with the potential to outpace any economy on earth this century. Xi and Russia's President Putin have played footsie over energy. European leaders and the U.S. have increased sanctions on Russia.
For Korea, there is need to cultivate partnerships with all comers. This key to advancement needs a steady hand and mind. There's no need to think the U.S. will withdraw her support of your country as a punishment or stick for opening wider cooperation with China. I think it's nearly a given that your country's interests need it.
One caution concerns anti-Japanese rhetoric. China scores propaganda points by joining with Korea to condemn Japanese historical sins. This plays well at both home bases but obscures China's own issues with its representation of Korean peoples. The Northeast project, the ''extension" of the Great Wall of China, and China's own past are not void of room for criticism. President Park's non-response to the idea of a joint commemoration of Japan's defeat in World War II is fitting.
We must support the positive advance of China too. With dozens of minority peoples and lingering domestic issues in Tibet and Xinjiang, China needs a stable regional and global map within which to grow and change. Let's not be arrogant! However, China wants persistent coaxing. Asia's Gulliver needs even greater Korean cooperation. So does the pivot.
Far more important than zinging Japan about the past is what China does and does not do about the misguided client in Pyongyang. Also more important is how China will build her blue-water navy and work through the thorny matters of territorial jurisdictions in disputed zones. China gradually pegs the yuan to international currency flows. Xi needs support to institutionalize reforms against corruption.
Korea should not lean too far towards any major partner. Don't lean away either! Some call this an unenviable position. They're wrong. Embrace your geostrategic position for the balance and importance that it means. Korea holds perhaps the best hand for long-term peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia. Cultivate the habit of syncretistic foreign relations. Don't fall victim to picking sides, despite the rhetoric of old friends and enemies.
Bernard Rowan is assistant provost for curriculum and assessment, professor of political science and faculty athletics representative at Chicago State University, where he has served for 21 years. He can be reached at browan10@yahoo.com.
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