The Political And Diplomatic Relationship Between China And South Korea

This dissertation concentrates on the study of the political and diplomatic relationship between China and South Korea, reviewing the history of the development of the political and diplomatic relationship between China and South Korea in an all-round and systematic manner, expounding the process of the development of the bilateral political, diplomatic, economic and cultural relations since the establishment of the Sino-Korea diplomatic relations and making an in-depth analysis of the factors affecting the development of the Sino-Korea political and diplomatic relations, thus revealing the trend of development of the Sino-Korea political and diplomatic relations.The dissertation comes of three parts: introduction, conclusion and the major part composed of five chapters.The introduction mainly explains the purpose of the study of the Sino-Korea political and diplomatic relationship and its significance to China' s economic development and political diplomacy. By way of consulting adequate literature published in Chinese, Korean, English and Japanese and based on the realism, the dissertation makes a multi-angle study of the overall Sino-Korea political and diplomatic relationship. Meanwhile, the dissertation makes a general review of the related studies.Chapter I introduces the origin of the China-South Korea relations from a historical perspective. From the Japan-Korea merge in 1910 to the break of 3·1 Movement, the outcry of the kind and upright Chinese and support from the men of insight brought the peoples of the two countries together closely. During Japan' s invasion into China, the various Chinese political parties, while fighting the Japanese invaders enthusiastically, offered unselfish assistance and support to the Korean provisional government. Filled with a common hatred, the two peoples developed profound friendship in their over 30 years' joint fight against the Japanese militarist aggression.Chapter II describes the China-South Korea relations under the confrontation of the two poles during the cold war. Post-war intervention by the super powers in the Korea peninsular issue brought about the final split of the peninsular and Korean peninsular became a major front of confrontation between the west and the east. At early days following the founding of the People' s Republic of China, the one-side strategy led to the friendly exchanges between China and DPRK on one hand, but resulted in the severe confrontation between China and South Korea on the other hand. The outbreak of the Korean War deteriorated the China-South Korea confrontation. After the war, the China-Soviet Union alliance was further strengthened and Soviet Union, China and DPRK entered into a strategic alliance against USA and its allies.Chapter III deals with the China-South Korea relations during the transitional period when the cold war tends to wane. After the 1970s, the atmosphere of cold war in Northeast Asia somehow relaxed. However such relaxation did not alter the nature of China' s relations with the two countries in the Korean peninsular. Korea introduced "north diplomacy" toward socialist countries, while China was pushing forward the reform and opening up policy. Thus the non-governmental contact and indirect trade served as the catalysts in melting the tough ice of bilateral relations and the China-South Korea relations began to show signs of improvement.Chapter IV focuses on the overall development of the bilateral relations after the establishment of the Sino-Korea diplomatic ties. The establishment of China-South Korea diplomatic relationship promoted the political, economic and security interest of the two countries. The 15 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relations has witnessed the rapid overall development of the bilateral political and economic relations, which in return, creates a favorable environment and atmosphere for the cultural exchange between the two countries. The boom of popularity of Korean culture in China and the Chinese culture in Korea represents two of the best examples. In contrast, the China-DPRK relations have undergone a brief stagnation. However, with the joint efforts of the two parties, the China-DPRK relations are beginning to transform to a new state-to-state relation.Chapter V analyzes the perspective for China-South Korea relations in the 21^st century. China' s policy toward the Korean peninsular is guided by the principle of "common emphasis on both the North and the South" . This policy is of great strategic significance to not only China' s economic development but also the state politics and security of China. Reunification of the Korean peninsula is a necessity of the history. In this process, China has an important role to play that can not be replaced. Upgrading of the current Sino-Korea relations to a strategic partnership as indicated in the foreign policy adopted by the new government of Korea will be brought to the agenda.The conclusion summarizes the trend of development for the China-South Korea political and diplomatic relationship, and predicts out in particular that the future Sino-Korea political and diplomatic relationship will be upgraded to strategic partnership.