Xi Jinping Government's Foreign Policy toward South Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

China and South Korea have normalized their relationship in 1992. Before diplomatic normalization, there has been indirect trade between China and South Korea which set the ground for the later rapprochement. Since the diplomatic normalization, China and South Korea have achieved brilliant progress in their bilateral relationship. For instance, South Korea decided to participate in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2015, which was initiated by China as a means to break out of the dollar trap for establishing a regional trading bloc in Eurasia. China and South Korea also concluded a free trade agreement in the same year.

Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and the President of the People’s Republic of China on November 15 of 2012, with world’s heated debates over the rise of China on both economic and military facets. At the time Xi assumed office, both international and domestic circumstances have shifted drastically. Thus, Xi’s diplomatic strategy as well as the South Korean policy have also been altered accordingly.

Due to the authoritarian characteristics of China’s Communist Party (CCP), China’s foreign policy towards South Korea has its own consistency. However, along with China’s rise of both economic and military power, its South Korean policy has been revised as time changes.

Thus, this thesis will utilize the classical realism to analyze the shifts in international and domestic circumstances of Xi’s government faced, and then further investigate Xi’s diplomatic strategy as well as the South Korean policy in comparison with his predecessors.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• I. Introduction 1
• 1.1 Research Background: History of China’s Foreign Relations and its Relationship with South Korea 1
• 1.2 Research Question and Scope 6
• 1.2.1 Research Question 6
• 1.2.2 Justification 7
• 1.3 Literature Review 7
• 1.4 Methodology 10
• II. Evolution of Sino-South Korean Relations 11
• 2.1 Sino-South Korean Relations Before 1988 11
• 2.2 Rapprochement Period (1988-1992) and Normalization of Diplomatic Relations in 1992 13
• 2.3 Beyond Normalization, 1992-Nowadays 16
• III. Elective Events of Sino-South Korean Conflicts 23
• 3.1 Conflicts during 2000s 23
• 3.1.1 “Garlic War” between China and South Korea 23
• 3.1.2 “Northeast Project” 26
• 3.2 Conflicts during 2010s 29
• 3.2.1 Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Incident 29
• 3.2.2 THAAD, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System 30
• IV. Diplomatic Strategy of Xi Jinping's Government 33
• 4.1 Background of Xi’s Foreign Policy 33
• 4.1.1 External and Internal Factors of China’s Foreign-Policy Making 33
• 4.1.2 Diplomatic Tasks of Xi’s Government 39
• 4.2 Successions and Deviations of Xi on Overall Diplomatic Strategy 41
• 4.2.1 Successions of Xi’s Diplomatic Strategy 41
• 4.2.2 Deviations of Xi’s Diplomatic Strategy 43
• 4.2.2.1 “Major-Power Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics”43
• 4.2.2.2 Emphases on “Core Interests”45
• 4.2.2.3 New “Peripheral Diplomacy”56
• V. Xi Jinping Government’s Foreign Policy toward South Korea 59
• 5.1 China’s Stance and Policies toward Park’s Government 60
• 5.2 THAAD and the US-Japan-South Korean Triangular Alliance 64
• 5.3 North Korean Nuclear Issues 66
• VI. Conclusion and Future Prospects 72
• Bibliography 74
• 국문초록 81