"Inter - Island Trend Of Thought" In Korean Society And Its Possible Influence

During the rein of Kangxi Emperor of China’s Qing Dynasty, China differed withKorea in the border demarcation. China’s official Mu Kedeng followed KangxiEmperor’s order, surveyed the border, erected demarcation tablets and solved theproblem. In the late Qing Dynasty, China had frictions with Korea because of Koreanscrossing the border, cultivating the wild land and settling in China. Thereafter Koreaclaimed the so-called “Jiandao” belonged to Korea. Korea and China negotiated butmade no headway. After Japan swallowing up Korea, Japan attempted to invadeChina’s territory on the excuse of the unresolved “Jiandao” issue. China and Japansigned China-Korea Border Agreement after negotiation. Hence, the so-called“Jiandao” issue is an issue left over from the past. After the end of World War Ⅱ,theKorean peninsula was divided and China and the Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea (DPRK) determined their boundaries through negotiations. However, after thefounding of the Republic of Korea (ROK), some in the ROK, claimed that theKorea-Japan Treaty in1905and “Jiandao Agreement” were invalid, thus graduallycausing a social current of reclaiming “Jiandao”and denying the legality of the borderbetween China and the DPRK. This thought has imposed somewhat effects on Koreansociety.But at the governmental level, both China and the ROK have concluded thatthere is no territorial issue between China and the ROK. But in the society of theROK, the social current of reclaiming “Jiandao” still exists and has manifestations.Currently, in the ROK, the wealth-gap is widening, the people’s discontent is growingand the geopolitics of surrounding areas of the ROK is by no means optimistic. Thenationalism of the ROK is always intense and now the public gradually becomesirrational under these pressure. Under such circumstances, it possible for the ROKgovernment to misjudge the outside situation and make an irrational foreign policy onChina. This possibility has been evidenced by a proposal to the ROK congressclaiming the invalidity of “Jiandao Agreement” put forward by the Foreign AffairsMinistry of the ROK.Friendly people-to-people exchanges constitute a basis of good official relationsbetween China and the ROK despite good relations at the governmental level. Gooddiplomatic relations need both a top-level design and a steady progress of nonofficialrelations. The “Jiandao” current in the ROK society has yet no prominent direct impacts on China-ROK diplomatic relations in spite of its certain social influences.But nobody can afford to overlook its potential. To properly handle the “Jiandao”current in the ROK, the Chinese government needs to enhance its public diplomacy tothe ROK, China’s academia needs to make a relevant research and the general publicneeds to expand exchanges so as to strengthen the mutual-trust between the twopeoples.