[EAI Commentary No. 35] Let's Open a New Chapter in Building Asian Common Prosperity Order

Ha Young-sun, Chairman of the East Asia Institute, is an honorary professor at Seoul National University and currently serves as a member of the Presidential National Security Advisory Group. He holds a Ph.D. in International Politics from the University of Washington.

Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Seoul. If this visit is to be more than just a grand celebration and establish itself as a historic encounter, the concerted efforts of both South Korea and China are more crucial than ever.

Building a New South Korea-U.S.-China Relationship Through a Post-Cold War Common Prosperity Perspective

The Asian Cold War order, which began to take shape in earnest after the Korean War following World War II, entered a new era of change in the 1990s with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The United States, a status quo power still holding its ground despite facing relative difficulties in the Asian power balance, and China, a rapidly growing emerging power, are striving to build a new type of major power relationship rather than falling into conflict and confrontation as in the past. The U.S. emphasizes that its Asian rebalancing policy is entirely different from the Cold War containment policy, and China emphasizes that its new major power relationship theory is far from the 'inevitable hegemony theory' (國強必覇論: a powerful nation will inevitably seek hegemony). Nevertheless, the U.S. and China have not yet built the trust to accept each other as perfect friends.

Amidst these difficulties, the two major powers must evolve the South Korea-China-U.S. relationship to a new level as a measure to strengthen substantive trust-building. In the Cold War order, the South Korea-China relationship and the South Korea-U.S. relationship were inevitably conflictual. However, for Asia to quickly graduate from the Cold War order and establish a new common prosperity order, South Korea, China, and the U.S. must all make substantial efforts to guide the South Korea-China relationship and the South Korea-U.S. relationship not as a dichotomous conflict but as a mutually complementary complex relationship.

China needs to adopt a post-Cold War perspective of common prosperity, recognizing that strengthening the South Korea-China relationship requires simultaneously strengthening the South Korea-U.S. relationship. At the same time, the U.S. must overcome the apprehension that the evolution of a new South Korea-China relationship will lead to the degradation of the traditional South Korea-U.S. relationship. Within the new South Korea-U.S.-China relationship thus formed, South Korea will complexly pursue the deepening of the traditional South Korea-U.S.-Japan network and the expansion of the nascent South Korea-China network, moving beyond the worn-out dichotomy of "pro-U.S." and "pro-China" sentiments of the past.

Building a South Korea-China-Japan Common Prosperity Order: From Core Interests to Symbiotic Interests

Another task that South Korea and China must jointly address is the building of a South Korea-China-Japan common prosperity order. The possibility of common prosperity in China-Japan relations is very bleak. Although China advocates for peripheral diplomacy based on "close, sincere, beneficial, and inclusive" (親誠惠容) principles, it faces severe conflicts with Japan over sharp core interests, as seen in territorial disputes. Meanwhile, Japan, under its national security strategy based on "proactive pacifism," interprets China's rise as a path to hegemony and is attempting to respond from a 19th-century perspective of modern international politics. Therefore, Japan argues that South Korea, which shares market democracy values, must join in preventing China's rise as a hegemonic power, while China believes that South Korea, which shares the pain of Japanese imperialism in the first half of the 20th century, must jointly prevent Japan's militarization.

However, these perspectives must evolve anew. If East Asia in the 19th century faced immense difficulties because it failed to keep pace with the positive competition of the Western modern international order, East Asia in the 21st century will face another arduous march if it fails to properly graduate from the negative conflicts of the modern international order. To avoid repeating this folly, South Korea and China must begin efforts, with U.S. support, to lead Japan and formulate and implement a common vision for the three East Asian countries.

First and foremost, we must restrain the use of conflicts over mutual core interests in traditional political and economic arenas for domestic political purposes. Second, we must maximize symbiotic interests in emerging arenas such as the environment, culture, and knowledge. More long-term, the younger generations who will bear the future of the three countries must share a complex identity that embraces individual nations, Asia, and the globe, based on open nationalism.

South Korea-China Cooperation on North Korea: Joint Efforts for Denuclearization and Peace Settlement

Finally, South Korea and China must jointly support North Korea so that it can confidently stand as a proud protagonist on the 21st-century Asian stage. In its New Year's address, North Korea announced that it would usher in a golden age of military-first politics based on the "parallel development line" of nuclear weapons and economic development. However, in the current reality of the international political system of nuclear non-proliferation, continued development of nuclear weapons makes economic development at a level that can fully participate in the 21st-century global economy realistically impossible. Therefore, for the future of a developed North Korea in the 21st century, South Korea, China, and other relevant parties, including the U.S., need to work together to forge a new "parallel development line 2.0" where North Korea pursues both nuclear-free security and economic development, by fully establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia, and simultaneously preparing a global-scale economic support system. As a first step, the leaders of South Korea and China must strongly express their opposition to North Korea's fourth nuclear test, which has negative consequences for North Korea, the Korean Peninsula, East Asia, and the world, and resume the Six-Party Talks to earnestly pursue common efforts to resolve the North Korean issue.

If South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping demonstrate a serious commitment to resolving the three major challenges facing the Korean Peninsula, China, and Asia from a new 21st-century perspective, President Xi Jinping's visit to South Korea will open a new chapter in building a common prosperity order for the Korean Peninsula and Asia. ■

This commentary is a Korean translation of the author's opinion piece published in the Global Times on July 4. (Source: http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_world/2014-07/5047260.html)

The East Asia Institute (EAI) receives financial support from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for research on middle power diplomacy. [EAI Commentary] aims to provide in-depth analysis and practical alternatives through a balanced perspective on major domestic and international issues. When quoting [EAI Commentary], please be sure to cite the source.