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A QUESTION OF
LEVERAGE
Part 2: Sorry, not
interested
By Jaewoo Choo
Part 1: China's
role in the Korea crisis
SEOUL -
International relations is a relatively new academic
subject considering the long history of cultural
exchange. This is particularly so when the issue is
viewed in the context of China's modern history.
Since its defeat in the first Opium War in the
19th century, China witnessed its territory divided and
occupied by foreigners. After more defeats and
subsequent unequal treaties, patriotic Chinese began to
study Western knowledge and technology either at home or
abroad. For historical reasons, such as the Communist
revolution and the Cultural Revolution, it was not until
China opened itself to the world in 1978 that
international relations became an academic subject at
the institutions of higher learning. It was
approximately the same time when Chinese political
scientists started to conduct research on the Korean
Peninsula.
Prior to the opening of China, most
of publications on the Korean Peninsula or North Korea
were hardly anything but a biography of Kim Il-sung, a
series on his ideology, juche, and old history
books of ancient Korea. Jin Xide has explained in his
2001 work Zhongguode dongbeiya yanjiu ("China's
Studies on Northeast Asia") that in the 1980s there were
not many publications on the Korean Peninsula. It was
not until the '90s, especially after China formally
recognized South Korea in 1992, when China's academic
interest in the Korean Peninsula and Korean affairs
began to blossom. However, most of the academic research
and scholarly works concerning the Korean Peninsula
tended to focus on South Korea rather than its northern
counterpart.
According to Jin's empirical
findings in a quarterly academic journal published by
the Northeast Asia Institute of Jilin University, in the
years between 1993 and 1995, articles directly concerned
with North Korea accounted for only eight out of 126. In
addition, there were only two papers that directly
focused on Sino-North Korean relations in the same
period, while another six focused on North Korea itself.
In the same journal between 1996 and 1997, nine articles
on North Korea were published and only one on the
bilateral relationship. The situation did not improve
but in fact worsened in the three-year span between 1998
and 2000: only one research work on the bilateral
relationship between China and North Korea was found and
eight on North Korea.
Another source, China
People's University Book and Periodical Resource Center,
indicates a similar trend in Chinese research and
academic works. During the period of 1995-2001, there
were a total of 45 articles on the Korean Peninsula
compiled by the center. Included in these articles were
topics ranging from trend analysis of the peninsula's
affairs, analytical work on the policies of the
surrounding states to the peninsula at both bilateral
and multilateral levels to economic and social issues
concerning the two Koreas. The Center only had five
written works that specifically dealt with North Korea
during the same period. Surprisingly, however, only one
article was listed under the title category of
Sino-North Korea relations. On the other hand, there
were 51 articles listed under the subject of South Korea
in the same time span. In addition, 15 articles on
Sino-South Korean bilateral relations were also
compiled.
All these findings may be limited in
terms of the scope and range of sources of information
available in China to address the real degree of Chinese
scholars' interests on North Korea. Nevertheless,
considering Jilin province's status as the origin of
China's Korean studies, if North Korean issues do not
appeal much to the scholars in the region, it may be
difficult to expect others would have greater interest
in the same issue. Findings in the China People's
University Book and Periodical Resource Center also
substantially support the low interest and priority that
North Korea currently receives from Chinese
Korean-affairs experts.
Lack of interest may be
attributed to the following aspects evolving around
North Korea: its decline in economic and international
profile; political sensitivity due to the uneasiness in
Sino-North Korean relations; and ultimately, China's
waning interest in North Korea in general.
Next: A matter of principle
Jaewoo Choo, PhD, is research fellow,
Trade Research Institute, Korea International Trade
Association.
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