Chung Woo-taek, vice speaker of the ROK National Assembly, recently led a delegation to visit the Taiwan region, ignoring China's warnings, violating the "one-China principle" and endangering China-ROK relations and regional peace and stability.
The Chinese embassy in the ROK strongly expressed this and demanded that the ROK immediately stop any official exchanges with the Taiwan region, not send a wrong signal to the "leading forces" on the island, take measures to eliminate the adverse impact of the visit to Taiwan, and safeguard the overall situation of Sino-ROK relations.
The Taiwan issue is China's internal affair and brooks no interference by outsiders, and the "one-China principle" is the basic principle of Sino-ROK exchanges.
In recent years, the cooperation between China and the ROK in the economic and trade fields has become increasingly close, and high-level visits to Taiwan by the ROK are very rare.
Compared with allies such as the United States and Japan, South Korea's attitude towards China is quite rational, and at least until Yoon Suk-yeol takes office, China-South Korea relations have maintained a good level. This shows that although Yoon Suk-yeol is inclined to the United States, he also takes into account the interests of China-South Korea relations and is unwilling to fall out with China.
The visit to Taiwan by the vice speaker of the South Korean National Assembly is similar to Pelosi of the United States before, which is a high-level contact, and has an extremely serious impact on China-South Korea relations.
South Korea quickly responded by "apologizing" to China.
According to reports, the spokesperson of the Republic of Korea said in a statement that the South Korean side still adheres to the position of the "one-China principle" and has explained this "unofficial act" to the Chinese side through diplomatic channels, hoping that the Chinese side can understand.
Although the response of the South Korean side is still the same as that of the West, it is also different. First, the South Korean side reaffirmed the "one-China principle" before explaining.
This shows that the ROK side is aware of the seriousness of this incident and also knows that if Sino-ROK relations are damaged, it will not be beneficial to itself, so it has first made clear its position on key issues and expressed its sincerity in apologizing.
Second, after the explanation, the South Korean side also expressed its hope to get the understanding of the Chinese side, although this is just a scene, but compared with the toughness and no regrets of European and American politicians, the South Korean attitude is still slightly better.
This also reflects the "two-facedness" of South Korea's China policy, which is afraid of breaking with China on the one hand, and walking a tightrope on the "red line issue" drawn by China on the other hand, following the steps of the United States.
Just like the Korean version of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" launched by Yoon Suk-yeol before, it is obviously following the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" of the United States and is willing to become a lackey of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region.
However, in a strategy that is not friendly to China, South Korea still emphasizes "not targeting China, but cooperating with China", which is the biggest difference from other versions of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy".
To put it simply, Yoon Suk-yeol is indeed moving closer to the United States and gradually abandoning his neutral stance, but he is not completely one-sided, and still hopes to maintain the basic stability of Sino-South Korean relations, at least in the economic aspect.
Looking at the previous one, the United States forced South Korea to join the "Chip Quadripartite Alliance" in order to impose a technological blockade on China, and South Korea has been very reluctant, and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin also made a special trip to China, hoping that China will understand South Korea's "helplessness".
And the facts have also proved that the Sino-US game has made South Korea pay a heavy price, and the market share of Korean manufacturing in China has been declining, and domestic ** institutions generally believe that this is the responsibility of the United States.
This also shows that there is a conflict of interest between South Korea and the United States, especially the great antipathy of enterprises and people towards the United States, and this "anti-American sentiment" may become an important reason for the fall of South Korea.
Therefore, in the face of South Korea's vacillation, we must not only be wary of its tilt toward the United States, but also try to maintain dialogue and cooperation.
On the premise of considering the interests of the two peoples, we should try our best to strive for the high-level to return to a neutral position, and at least strive for consistency with China on the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula issue.
After all, judging from the ROK's recent series of dangerous moves, the ROK's "apology" is more like a strategic fool, but with a slightly better attitude.
From launching the "Indo-Pacific Strategy", to allowing the United States to deploy a strategic ** on the peninsula, to conniving at lawmakers to visit Taiwan, South Korea is trying to take bigger and bigger steps.
These small moves by the ROK are not only the result of the United States provoking behind the scenes, but also a wake-up call to China, that is, the United States has adopted the strategy of "slicing sausages" on the Taiwan issue and is trying to win over its allies to play the "Taiwan card" against China.
Today it is South Korea, tomorrow it may be other Indo-Pacific countries, in the face of this bottomless containment strategy, we must take it seriously, the recent firepower Xi exercise held by our military in the waters around Taiwan Island has shown the outside world our determination and strength to defend national sovereignty!