ROK gains nothing by antagonizing China: China Daily editorial

Although the Republic of Korea has tried to stay clear of such anti-China cliques as the Quad, and strives to practice its autonomy in the "chip alliance" the US has tried to form against China for its own interests, the Yoon Suk-yeol government has been very active in trying to close ranks with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to serve as a bridgehead for the de facto military bloc's expansion to East Asia.

Worse, it has tried to play the "Taiwan card", ignoring Beijing's strong opposition and stern warnings. In an exclusive interview with Reuters in April last year, Yoon said: "The Taiwan question is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue."

Such erroneous remarks, which directly challenge the redline of Beijing and shake the political foundation for ROK-China relations, represent arguably the first time that a ROK leader has interfered in the internal affairs of China since the two neighbors established their diplomatic relations in 1992.

Against that backdrop, Yoon's irresponsible remarks regarding the maritime disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, which he made during his visit to Manila on Monday, represent the latest sign that the loose-tongued ROK leader needs to be reminded of the necessity of speaking with due prudence and within proper limits.

Although Yoon apparently tried to avoid offending Beijing, he should have been able to predict the Chinese side's interpretation of the common understanding he reached with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in "upholding an international rules-based order, including on safety of navigation in the South China Sea", since the Philippines, the United States and Japan have been using that discourse to justify their overt and covert actions that infringe upon China's sovereignty and territorial integrity in those waters.

In a joint news conference with Marcos, Yoon said his country would actively take part in the latest phase of the Philippines multi-billion-dollar effort to modernize its military security at a time of rising tensions in the South China Sea.

Even if a major objective of Yoon's visit to Manila was to secure a fat weapons sales contract with the Philippines, the South China Sea disputes between China and the Southeast Asian country, to which the ROK is not a party, should by no means have become an excuse for him to hype up a nonexistent security threat from China to sell ROK weapons.

During their meeting in New York on Sept 28, ROK Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Seoul is happy that ROK-China relations show a good trend of resuming exchanges, and expressed the hope that both sides would work together to maintain this positive momentum, strengthen high-level exchanges, and promote the stable development of bilateral relations.

The ROK is willing to enhance economic and trade cooperation with China and jointly promote regional economic integration, Cho added.

It is to be hoped the ROK side's actions are in accordance with these words, and it cherishes the positive trend of improvement in bilateral ties since the beginning of this year.

As Wang said, as long as both countries remain committed to the principles of their diplomatic ties, continue their focus on friendship, and pursue mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, China-ROK relations will continue to develop healthily and sustainably.

The irreconcilability between the ROK and Japan on historical issues and maritime disputes had long been a headache for Washington, which sought to form a closer alliance in East Asia with the two allies. But all the concessions that the Yoon government has made toward Japan to overcome their historical differences, which would have been unthinkable before, is the price the ROK is paying for the US' support to raise the ROK's profile on the world stage, for instance, by its admittance to the G7. However, the rewards offered by the US, so far, have proved to be more symbolic than real or substantial.

Even if Yoon hopes Washington sees his latest efforts to woo Manila as the ROK's new input into the US' China-containment strategy, the US side knows clearly that selling ROK weapons was his main goal.