Intensifying verbal battle

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Opinion

Mon, December 4, 2023 | 05:22

Editorial

Intensifying verbal battle

Posted : 2023-05-09 16:40

Updated : 2023-05-09 16:40

Seoul and Beijing must calm down and return to normalcy

South Korea and China are now exchanging harsh, undiplomatic words.

The bilateral relationship has gone from bad to worse since President Yoon Suk Yeol took office a year ago.

Their aggravating ties are not surprising. The conservative South Korean leader made clear his preference for America in the G2 battle for global hegemony. The other reason was North Korea's escalation of nuclear threats and China's apparent disregard for it.

Astonishing was the quite undiplomatic ― almost irrational ― responses from the Chinese government and state media to Yoon's slightly-too-frank statements on China and Taiwan.

Late last month, Yoon expressed his opposition to a potential "change of status quo by force" while commenting on China-Taiwan relations. That was passable by international standards. However, Yoon's comparison of the cross-strait relationship to inter-Korean relations lacked finesse because he seemed to forget to reaffirm the "One China" principle.

Global Times, Beijing's English-language mouthpiece, editorialized these comments as "unwise" and "shortsighted." Anyway, it is a media outlet that is free to say what it wants in an opinion piece. But it went a little too far by saying Yoon was "currying favor" with the U.S. Even more discourteous diplomatically was Foreign Minister Qin Gang, reiterating, "Those who play with fire on Taiwan will burn themselves to death."

This is an utterance that has given up the minimum dignity a nation's top diplomat should show. The phrase has become like a cliche since Chinese President Xi Jinping first used it against the U.S. a while ago. The time has long passed for China to stop using such undiplomatic words, not least because it aims to be a "new superpower." Qin's reply was even more problematic as the ministerial-level official directed it at a foreign chief executive. No wonder it led to the mutual summons of ambassadors.

China's discourtesy toward Korean leaders was not new. An ex-foreign minister, Wang Yi, caused a stir years ago as he seemed to pull former President Moon Jae-in by the sleeve. Also, many South Koreans do not forget Moon had to "eat several meals alone" during his 2017 visit to China. Moon's successor seems set not to let Beijing repeat these. Add to these some Chinese netizens' unduly nationalistic acts, sinicizing all things Korean, ranging from kimchi to hanbok, and Beijing will know why 80 percent of young Koreans prefer America, and even Japan, to China.

These internet warriors may have been influenced by "wolf warriors" in diplomacy, including Wang and Qin. After all, it was Beijing that has long attempted to erase the ancient Goguryeo Kingdom, which once occupied Manchuria, from its history book and reduce it to an old Chinese state. A good relationship is hard to expect without the due respect of neighbors.

Instead of quarreling over who provoked whom first, the two countries should calm down and restore a clear-headed approach. Yoon should not have blurted out his discontentment with Beijing in a luncheon with journalists. He must address China "diplomatically."

That said, China must also ponder why bilateral ties have hit a nadir. It must wonder why even North Korean leaders allegedly expressed hope that U.S. troops remain on this peninsula after the eventual reunification of the Koreas. Korea is neither the vassal state of China centuries ago nor the small country that despises its giant but poorer neighbor as recently as a few decades ago. Korea wants to deal with China equally and be treated in kind.

There are still Koreans who call for Seoul to take a more balanced stance between Washington and Beijing, braving criticism for siding with a socialist state (this is dangerous in strongly anti-communist Korea) or being mired in millennia-old flunkeyism.

China must begin to make efforts now to win the hearts of Koreans if it wants to compete with America on an equal footing globally. It will be too late when young Koreans with Sinophobia become the establishment here.