South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been in a lot of trouble lately, and after the re-election of members of the National Assembly was completely defeated and the ruling party and top government officials resigned en masse, the South Korean people have again made trouble for him in relations with China.
Yoon Suk-yeol
What is going on? According to South Korea's aviation information data, the number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea is decreasing. In the first quarter of this year, the number of passengers on China-South Korea flights was 2.869 million, a considerable year-on-year increase, but compared with the 4.138 million in the first quarter of 2019 before the epidemic, a drop of 30.6%.
The most direct impact on South Korea is the sharp decline in tourism revenue. But this is not the end, instead of Chinese tourists into South Korea, is the goods from China, the same in the first quarter of this year, China's cross-border e-commerce sold to South Korea the total volume of goods traded 819.6 billion won, about 4.3 billion yuan, up 164% year-on-year, one in and one out, Chinese not only do not come to South Korea to spend money, but also earn money from Koreans, the Yoon Seok-yue government is not anxious.
Without the income of Chinese tourists, South Korea is really restless
Some analysts believe that this trend is almost irreversible, because the reason for this situation is the unreserved pro-American and pro-Japanese policy pursued by the Yoon Suk-yeol government. Many people may not know that during his election campaign, Yoon Suk-yeol solemnly promised to continue the balanced diplomacy of the Moon Jae-in era, and also emphasized the importance of developing friendly relations with China. Unexpectedly, as soon as he took office, he tore up his promises, not only threw himself into the arms of the United States as soon as possible, but also took what the Americans called a "brave step" in relations with Japan.
Since then, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has joined the small group of "containment" China, he has expressed his loyalty to the United States and expressed his willingness to deploy THAAD, and has repeatedly thrown out controversial remarks on the Taiwan Strait issue, as if he will exceed the tasks given to him by the United States. Originally, with South Korea's strength, it would not cause any real damage to China, but some things don't bite, it's disgusting. Especially at the end of 2022, South Korean airports gave Chinese tourists to South Korea "dog tags", which greatly damaged the friendly relations between China and South Korea, and also greatly hit the enthusiasm of Chinese tourists for tourism to South Korea.
South Korea needs to be genuine towards its tourists in order to regain its attractiveness
In fact, from Yoon Suk-yeol's point of view, considering that he has a father who was a high-ranking official during the Japanese colonial period, his background of extreme admiration for American culture, and South Korea's tradition of "big things" diplomacy, it is not surprising that he made such a choice. Yoon Suk-yeol may think that since China and the United States are competing and the United States is stronger at this stage, it must be right to choose the United States.
However, Yoon Suk-yeol does not want to think about the fact that the United States is 10,000 miles away from South Korea, and China is on the edge of South Korea; for so many years, there has been a tremendous amount of trade between China and South Korea, and can he Yin Suk-yeol afford the price of rashly turning his face with China? On the other hand, Germany and France, which are EU countries that have no choice but to "take a tough line on China" under US pressure, have not forgotten to make preparations with both hands, dealing with the United States and carrying out economic cooperation with China on the one hand. A country like South Korea, which is at the forefront of the confrontation between China and the United States and has no reservations about the United States, is simply a strange flower in international politics.
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Moreover, I don't know if Yoon Xiyue has heard the saying, called "immortals fight, mortals suffer", the competition between China and the United States in recent years on new energy and semiconductors, any policy introduced, may be just a game for both sides, but for a country of South Korea's size, it is a catastrophe. Of course, having said that, now Yoon Suk-yeol wants to change his course, it is also difficult, after the re-election of the National Assembly, he has become a complete "lame duck president", and he can't even decide on a successor after the resignation of the prime minister, and in the next 3 years, whether he can survive smoothly will be marked with a big question mark.