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A visit to China for the first time in many years
On May 13, South Korea sent Foreign Minister Cho Doi-yeol to visit China, a rare event because the two countries are close to each other, but the last time South Korea visited China was in November 2017.
As the saying goes, nothing is left to the Three Treasures, and the South Korean foreign minister's second visit after a six-year interval took with the important task of the South Korean government - to repair relations with China.
In the past few years, the South Korean government led by Yoon Suk-yeol has been an absolute "pro-American faction," not only supporting the United States' "China containment strategy," but also actively engaging with the United States and Japan, and joining military organizations to contain China.
However, no matter how cold the relationship between the state is, the non-governmental business still needs to be done. The economic status and geographical location of China and South Korea in Asia also determine that the two countries cannot have no contacts.
In Asia alone, China and South Korea are among the top five in terms of economic strength, and the two countries are geographically close to each other, so their trade exchanges are relatively close. In 2023, the total trade between China and South Korea will reach 310 billion.
No one can imagine how far this trade volume could expand if the relationship between China and South Korea was a normal friendly and neighboring country.
Coincidentally, South Korea's economy has been "greatly damaged" by the dollar, and it is in great need of cooperation with the outside world. Therefore, the ROK foreign minister came to China to reconcile with China and it would be better to have a wider range of economic cooperation.
However, the premise of cooperation is to "resolve differences," and the mainland and the ROK still have many contradictions in the military and economic fields, and they are unable to accede to the ROK's request for the time being.
As a result, the mainland has raised two questions about South Korea: first, China's sovereignty in the South China Sea, Taiwan and other places; Second, will South Korea continue to cooperate militarily with the United States and Japan?
These two issues are the crux of the contradictions between China and South Korea, and only when they reach an agreement on these two issues can China and South Korea establish official trade and cooperation relations.
However, these two issues are too involved, and the discussions between the ROK and the mainland are still continuing, and there is no definite result yet.
The Paper2024-05-15: South Korean Foreign Minister's Visit to China: China-South Korea relations have taken a positive step, but two core issues still need attention
In fact, even if the outcome of the dialogue between China and South Korea has not yet come out, people have expected it, after all, the diplomatic style of the Yoon Suk-yeol government has long been familiar to people.
As for the "economic cooperation" that South Korea is seeking, the mainland is not in a hurry at all. On the one hand, the mainland's economy is much more stable than South Korea's, and it is still developing well. On the other hand, it is too easy for the mainland to "control" the South Korean economy.
South Korea: Would you like to let me go?
South Korea's economy has one peculiarity: it is very materially dependent on China. China is not only South Korea's largest export market, but also South Korea's largest source of imports, and the mainland can restrict South Korea in the upstream and downstream of trade.
If the mainland makes a slight move against South Korea, South Korea's economy will be affected immediately. For example, the U.S. "deployment" of THAAD in South Korea in 2016 caused dissatisfaction with the mainland government.
Subsequently, China reduced its imports of South Korean cultural products and retail goods, and even the number of Chinese tourists to South Korea fell by nearly half. A few seemingly simple measures have reduced South Korea's revenue by $9 billion!
What makes South Korea even more uncomfortable is that the categories of goods exported by the mainland are very similar to those of South Korea, and South Korea has to compete with the mainland. With the continuous improvement of the mainland's manufacturing level, South Korea's life has become more and more difficult.
According to a report by South Korea's "Culture Daily", in 2023, the competition between China and South Korea in semiconductors, new energy vehicles, electrical facilities, etc., which were previously South Korea's dominant industries.
Needless to say, the mainland is the leading country in new energy vehicles, and only Tesla of the United States can compete with the mainland in the world, and South Korea is far behind the mainland in this regard.
In the field of semiconductors and chips, which South Korea is very good at, many orders have been taken away by the mainland, and the source of these orders is the low-end chips that Japan, the United States, and South Korea do not care about.
Although the mainland cannot produce top chips such as 3nm and 5nm, it can produce a large number of low-end chips above 14nm.
Although the profits of these chips are not as good as those of high-end chips, they are better than the large demand, and if they are produced and exported in large quantities on the mainland, they can also obtain considerable income.
At present, one-third of the world's low-end chips are connected from China! It's hard to imagine how many of these orders would have belonged to South Korea. The trade situation between China and South Korea has also changed with the rise of Made in China.
In 2023, South Korea's total imports of goods from China will be $142.8 billion, and the total value of goods exported to China will be only $124.8 billion, and South Korea's exports have been declining for many years.
South Korean economists are worried that the gap between China and South Korea will further widen due to the continuous improvement of China's technological level, and one day, even the South Korean market will be conquered by China.
South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mu also said that South Korea can no longer follow the United States to confront China, and South Korea should cooperate with China economically, otherwise it will be difficult to maintain its current economic status.
Observer.com2024-04-23: "China's big surprise attack shakes South Korea's economy", Korea International Trade Association: Cutting-edge technology is being overtaken, export competition is intensifying
The attitude of the South Koreans has made many people "breathe" a sigh of relief: South Korea, which has always been on the front line of anti-China, now has to bow to China because of its livelihood!
In the past, he was anti-China, but now he seeks China
South Korea's behavior toward the mainland's topography is multifaceted, and we are very familiar with THAAD militarily and political sovereignty.
In the economic and cultural fields, there are also many contradictions between the two countries. South Korea has long implemented "discriminatory" treatment against mainland companies, preventing Chinese companies from developing in South Korea; South Korea is also constantly "stealing" the traditional culture of the mainland to build momentum for the so-called "Korean culture".
Of course, the mainland is not "accustomed" to South Korea, and restricts South Korean products to the death. Korean movies, Korean dramas, Korean groups, and Korean cosmetics cannot be published in China, and the only areas in which South Korea can cooperate with China are purely commercial.
Therefore, one of the purposes of Cho's visit to China is to open the door to China so that South Korean companies can operate in China, and South Korea has realized that it is really impossible to do without the Chinese market.
It is still difficult to say whether the two countries will be able to achieve cooperation, but the only thing worth affirming is that the ROK has realized the importance of the mainland in the regional economy and has begun to take the initiative to show goodwill to the mainland, and the relations between the two countries will indeed ease up considerably.
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