'The beautiful coat' wears a bit thin
By Jian Junbo
SHANGHAI - Two recent events, the sinking in March of the South Korean corvette
the Cheonan and Seoul's decision to go ahead with a joint naval drill
with the United States in the Yellow Sea despite Beijing's strong opposition,
are bound to cast a shadow over the strategic partnership between China and
South Korea.
Since China and South Korea established formal diplomatic relations in 1992,
there had been no major diplomatic rows between the countries until now.
An international investigation concluded that the 1,200-tonne Cheonan was
sunk - with the loss of 46 lives - by a North Korean
midget submarine operating near the water border between South Korea and North
Korea.
With this conclusion, South Korea successfully pushed the United Nations
Security Council (UNSC) to adopt a resolution on the attack on the Cheonan.
While the resolution strongly condemned the incident, it failed to identify
North Korea, but noted North Korea's view and response to the issue.
Since China is a permanent member of the UNSC, a number of South Koreans
complained that the ambiguous resolution was the outcome of China's
"favoritism" toward North Korea.
Soon after the adoption of the resolution, a joint US-South Korean naval drill
was staged "to send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behavior
must stop", as emerged in a meeting between US Defense Secretary Robert Gates
and his South Korean counterpart Kim Tae-young.
China expressed its "serious concern" over this. "We resolutely oppose foreign
military ships and planes coming to the Yellow Sea and other waters near China
to engage in activities that affect China's security interests," the Foreign
Ministry said.
Because Beijing did not appear to stand loyally at the side of Seoul in dealing
with these two affairs, it came in for much criticism in South Korea. An
editorial in the Central Daily even went as far as to question the "the
beautiful coat" - the China-South Korea cooperative partnership.
In view of its "blood-and-flesh" ties with North Korea, China's position on
sanctions may be understandable, the editorial said, yet it had no reason to
oppose the joint naval exercises in the West Sea (Yellow Sea) as they were only
aimed at serving a warning to North Korea.
Another influential South Korean newspaper, the East Asia Daily, said in an
editorial that "China openly interferes in [South Korean] domestic affairs,
opposing the South Korea-US joint naval drill in our national waters ... Do we
[South Korea] fear China so much?"
With emotions running high following the sinking of the Cheonan, South
Koreans might not fully appreciate China's position.
When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Seoul soon after the incident, he told
President Lee Myung-bak that China would not take sides with either North Korea
or South Korea, but would stand on the side of justice and fairness. He said
China understood South Korean feelings and Beijing would decide on its position
according to the "true colors of the issue", and that paramount would be peace
and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Wen explained China's position clearly. First, there is still dispute over the
sinking of the Cheonan, which is why the UN didn't outright blame
Pyongyang. So there is no reason for China to accuse North Korea.
Second, even if the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, military
threats or retaliation by South Korea are not the best approach to easing
tensions on the peninsula.
Third, Beijing's imposition of strong pressure on Pyongyang would make it more
averse to China and would result in Pyongyang taking an even more aggressive
attitude toward Seoul - also not good for stability.
As for China's opposition to the joint naval exercises in the Yellow Sea, in
the Chinese view, South Korea apparently does not, or does not want to,
understand this will have an impact on and even threaten China's national
security, which cannot be tolerated by any state.
China simply was not happy with heavily armed vessels sailing off its shores,
and especially those of the US, always a potential threat to China.
Foreign warships in the Yellow Sea remind the Chinese of the humiliation in
1894 when their fleet was defeated by Japan's. After that, China lost its
leadership role in East Asia and became a virtually colonized country.
In these testing times between China and South Korea, the countries could look
at the positives, and build on these, both on the political level and among
civil society. There are also very strong economic ties: China is the biggest
importer as well as the biggest exporter for South Korea and South Korea is the
third-largest trading partner of China.
Two-way trade between China and South Korea amounted to US$141 billion last
year and South Korea sends a quarter of its exports to China. The two nations
plan to increase bilateral trade to $300 billion a year by 2015.
As neighbors geographically, partners economically and relatives culturally,
the two countries are in a position to develop closer relations once they put
the present unease behind them.
Dr Jian Junbo is assistant professor of the Institute of International
Studies at Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
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