By Jin Kai
Unless the U.S. can bring Seoul and Tokyo together, China will seek to exploit tensions in this relationship.
The U.S. rebalance to Asia has been productive, in some aspects at least. For example, the U.S. and Japan have reaffirmed their strategic ties regarding regional and global issues, which obviously frays China’s nerves. But perhaps the U.S. stance has not been completely “balanced,” especially when it comes to South Korea-Japan relations. The controversial attitudes and behaviors, particularly regarding historical issues, by the United States’ key ally Japan have constantly annoyed not only the Chinese, but also the South Korean government and general public.
China intends to build a “new type of great power relations” with the U.S. but has not found Washington very enthusiastic about that proposal. So China has not wasted the strategic space it can claim from the discord and friction between its two neighbors. China has virtually turned South Korea-Japan relations into America’s Achilles’ heel even as the U.S. strategically turns toward this region, intending to assure other states of its firm stance. On a bilateral level, China’s goodwill gestures and charm offensive toward South Korea seems to have worked to a certain degree. The latest U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) report claimed, “As its influence over South Korea grows, China judges it eventually will be in a stronger position to pressure South Korea to reduce its security ties with the United States.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. has good reasons to worry about South Korea-Japan discord. From the U.S. perspective, it is not difficult to imagine how different the regional situation could be if South Korea were to significantly improve its relationship with Japan. This would help to stabilize the U.S. presence in Northeast Asia. In fact, poll data shows that 57.8 percent of Koreans support President Park Geun-hye taking a proactive role in improving relations with Japan. Despite this, the chilliness in South Korea-Japan relations endures.
Read the full story at The Diplomat