Why does Korea lack a notable China strategy?
Published: 24 Jan. 2025, 00:01
Updated: 24 Jan. 2025, 00:23

The author is the Beijing bureau chief of the JoongAng Ilbo.
"If we compete with allies over sovereignty and borders, we risk giving the passage rights we didn't intend to surrender to Putin and Xi Jinping."
This stark remark was made on Jan. 14 by Nicholas Burns, 69, the U.S. Ambassador to China, upon completing his term. It was a pointed critique of former President Trump’s attempt to purchase Greenland. Returning to his post as a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, Burns summed up his three years in Beijing with this insight during his exit interview:
“I am often asked, ‘Did you try to gain China’s trust?’ or ‘Do you trust China?’ My answer is always the same: It’s not about trust. It’s about judging China based on its actions. What they say or promise, whether in public or private, doesn’t matter. We need to move beyond whether we view China positively or negatively and focus on assessing their actions and demanding accountability.”
Tarumi Hideo, 64, Japan’s Ambassador to China until late 2023, left a vivid account of his tenure through an eight-part memoir published in a political monthly magazine. A key figure in Japan’s Foreign Ministry and a leader of its "China school," Tarumi was instrumental in coining the concept of a "strategic, mutually beneficial relationship" between the two countries. He recounts an anecdote from the 45th anniversary of the 1978 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, where Wang Yi, a former Japanese ambassador and Politburo member, praised his speech, saying, "It was excellent. Let’s rebuild our strategic, mutually beneficial relationship."
Tarumi advises that when dealing with China, it is crucial to remember that “China does not equal the Party, and the Party does not equal China.” He emphasizes the need for nuanced, multifaceted engagement, rather than one-dimensional attitudes or blind judgment.
Meanwhile, Jaime FlorCruz, 74, the current Philippine Ambassador to China, is a legend among Beijing-based foreign correspondents. His connection with China spans over 50 years. In 1971, during his first visit to the country, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the staunchly anti-communist president of the Philippines, declared martial law, leaving FlorCruz stranded. During this time, he worked in rural China amid the Cultural Revolution.
In 1977, after Mao Zedong’s death and Deng Xiaoping’s reintroduction of university entrance exams, he enrolled at Peking University. He later served as a Beijing correspondent for Newsweek, Time and CNN. As president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, FlorCruz bore witness to history. His career culminated in a remarkable moment in 2014, when he posed a question to his college classmate, then-Premier Li Keqiang, during China’s Two Sessions. Appointed ambassador by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2022, he now navigates the tense waters of the South China Sea dispute while safeguarding the Philippines’ interests. His book, “Class of ’77: How My Classmates Changed China” (2022), offers an intimate account of his experiences.
As China’s neighbor of 5,000 years, Korea seems to lack such reflections. No noteworthy ambassadorial memoirs come to mind. Its China diplomacy seems to oscillate like a pendulum, repeating patterns without clear direction. Is it too much to ask for a China strategy worthy of bearing a "K-mark," one that Korea can proudly claim as its own?
Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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