The Escalating US-China Hegemonic Rivalry in Asia-Pacific and South Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Despite the mounting pressure from the US and China to side with them, the Moon Government has not formally announced full participation in both China’s BRI and the US Indo-Pacific strategy yet. Instead, it introduced a neutral policy called the New Southern Policy. Although this appears ambiguous and vague, it appears a strategic move on the part of the Moon Government to deal with the intensifying US-China rivalry in Asia-Pacific and to solve South Korea’s dilemma to choose between the two great powers. Rather than formally participating solely in either one of the strategies, the Moon Government has promoted involvement by function with them, where South Korea has common interests with the US and China, and tried to strengthen cooperation with the two great powers simultaneously. South Korea’s such strategy, which does not favor one and isolate the other, is a balanced approach taken by a ‘pivot state,’ vis-à-vis the two contending great powers.

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