South Korea's new foreign minister took office on January 10 and has spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japan's foreign minister, Australia's foreign minister, Vietnam's foreign minister, and other foreign ministers, but has never spoken with China. In this regard, South Korea** pointed out that China's series of active diplomatic activities "seem to have a tendency to snub South Korea", which reflects the current situation of China-South Korea relations. Compared with the previous May 12, 2022, after former South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin took office, he had a phone call with his Chinese counterpart on the fourth day, and now nearly 20 days have passed, which is indeed a bit "abnormal", but to some extent it is also normal.
South Korea's foreign minister first: After South Korea's chief minister Cho Dui-yeol took office, China's first minister Wang Yi sent a message to congratulate him, which is not rude to a certain extent. Among the related "call" issues, there is a core question: are some of South Korea's practices in recent years worth "calling"? For example, during the special period, the "listing" quarantine of inbound Chinese in South Korea, making inappropriate remarks on the Taiwan issue, and boycotting the Chinese ambassador to South Korea on the grounds of "interference in internal affairs" and so on. This series of actions has led to a cooling of relations between China and South Korea, so instead of questioning China's "snubbing" of South Korea, it is better to think more about what it has done.
China-South Korea Relations No. 2: South Korea frequently provokes China on the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea issues, and collaborates with the United States, Japan, the Philippines and other countries to stir up the situation on the peninsula, which has made the outside world lose interest in dialogue with South Korea. To put it simply, even if there is a dialogue between China and South Korea, the two countries will not be able to establish a good cooperative relationship. South Korea's misperception and mistaken attitude on China-related issues have led to a drift of tension between the two sides. Especially on the issue of China's sovereignty, if South Korea's wrong approach is not corrected, then the dialogue may be much later, and it is not even ruled out that communication cannot be established.
South Korea, the United States, and Japan summit meeting third: On some issues, South Korea's "irresponsible" attitude has made it normal not to talk on the phone. For example, in the previous incident about the decline in Chinese tourists, South Korea alleged that China did not approve outbound group tours to South Korea, resulting in tourism to South Korea not returning to the level of previous years. Ignoring the negative impact of South Korea's unfriendly behavior such as discriminating against Chinese tourists, it blindly shifts the blame to China. Based on South Korea's diplomatic attitude, I personally believe that it is reasonable not to have dialogue or talk on the phone in the short term. The friendship between the two countries itself is a process of "mutual benefit", and if South Korea wants to be "valued", then it should first put its posture right.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also on the issue of normalizing relations between the two countries. The signing of the "Washington Declaration" between South Korea and the United States, as well as its erroneous statements on the Taiwan issue and the South China Sea issue, must be corrected. At the same time, it can also be understood that South Korea's provocative behavior has led to China's indifference at the moment. Personally, I believe that the South Korean people still know that they oppose the full deployment of THAAD, but the South Korean high-level is pushing for the full deployment. This shows that the South Korean top leadership is detached from the people, and the decisions they have made are not only uncomfortable to China, but also disapproved of by the South Korean people.
South Korea** Finally, just like the current Japan, while calling on China to open visa-free access to Japan, while planning behind the scenes to restrict exports to China and Russia, this two-faced approach, do you think it is worthy of "respect"? To a certain extent, if South Korea chooses to follow the United States in disrupting the Asia-Pacific region, it should not be under the illusion of continuing to benefit from the Chinese market, and from the moment it chooses to go to the opposite side, it should understand what kind of consequences it will endure.
Wen Xiaotie) Sword Project