#MCN首发激励计划#
At the invitation of mainland Foreign Minister Wang Yi, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Doi-yeol arrived in Beijing on May 13 for a visit. It is reported that Zhao Duilie's visit to China will stay until the evening of the 14th, and during this two-day trip, Zhao Duilie will not only have an in-depth exchange of views with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on China-South Korea bilateral relations and supply chain cooperation, but also meet with local Korean enterprises and listen to their demands. According to a report published by a number of Korean media on the 13th quoted by the Observer, Cho Duiyeol's visit has attracted the attention of South Korean public opinion, and all walks of life are looking forward to easing the tension between China and South Korea as much as possible through this visit.
In fact, not only in Korea, but also in charge of Korean companies operating in China, have the same idea. According to Yonhap News Agency, after Zhao Duiyeol arrived in Beijing on the morning of the 13th, he held a symposium with the heads of Korean companies in China before meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the afternoon. According to the list of Korean companies participating in the meeting disclosed by Yonhap News Agency, all of them are well-known large enterprises in China and South Korea, and the heads of Hyundai Motor, Samsung China, Korean Air, LG Chem and other companies attended the symposium on the same day. At the meeting, Zhao Duilie frankly admitted that the economic and trade relations between China and South Korea have changed from "complementarity" in the past to "competition" today.
He also pledged to work with companies to promote "economic diplomacy" and create predictable business activities for Korean companies in the country. The heads of various South Korean companies also spoke out one after another, calling on the South Korean government to actively communicate with the Chinese high-level officials. It is worth mentioning that before his departure, Zhao Duilie publicly stated that he would focus on discussions with the Chinese side on "areas with great potential for cooperation". Combined with Cho Duiyeol's statement when he met with the heads of Korean companies in China, it is not difficult to see that South Korea intends to redefine China-South Korea relations through this visit, and at the same time seek so-called "fair competition".
However, even the best ideas need to be supported by a realistic foundation, especially in China-South Korea relations. On the one hand, South Korea hopes to fully implement the "U.S.-South Korea Alliance" while maintaining a stable state of China-South Korea relations and maintaining the status quo of mutual benefit, so as to realize the vision of "security depends on the United States and the economy depends on China." But on the other hand, Yoon Suk-yeol's so-called "global pivot country" has made South Korea's diplomatic proposition very aggressive, not only to take the lead in discussing the North Korean nuclear issue with the mainland, but even to follow the example of the United States and Japan in the Taiwan Strait.
This move to tear down and build walls has made the already delicate relationship between China and South Korea even more unpredictable. In other words, the source of the impasse in China-South Korea relations has always been the South Korean side, not the Chinese side. And the conservative forces in South Korea that are currently in power are precisely pro-American and pro-Japanese. This means that in the short term, China-ROK relations cannot be eased by a single dialogue, and only through multi-level and multi-dimensional exchanges, and at the same time cooperate with concrete operations, can China-ROK relations be "untied".
At the same time, we should also realize that although South Korea sent its foreign minister to visit China on its own initiative, this does not mean that Yoon Suk-yeol really has the intention of improving relations between the two countries, and it cannot be ruled out that this is a move taken by South Korea's conservative forces to calm the uneasiness of the industry and public opinion. Therefore, in the future, China will have to listen more to the ROK and watch its deeds, and only when the other side shows true sincerity and goodwill can China-ROK relations continue to move forward in an atmosphere of "two-way travel".
South Korea should be aware that the ancient diplomatic concept of "long-distance friendship and close attack" has its own objective constraints, and copying it in a sword-seeking style will lead South Korea to a dead end. If South Korea hesitates in the face of China's "thousand-year-old neighbor," it will lose more than just economic benefits in the future.