hankyoreh

By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent in Bali and Gil Yun-hyung, Tokyo correspondent

With China and Japan locked in a tense standoff over trade and territorial issues, attention is turning to President Park Geun-hye and the course she will take in East Asia diplomacy.

Responding to Washington’s recent attempts to use a stronger alliance with Seoul and Tokyo to keep China in check, Beijing has been working overtime to bring South Korea on board with it, sending strong positive signals on Park’s North Korea policy and ideas of economic cooperation.

Now Park, who has been keeping Japan at arm’s length throughout the country’s recent rightward shift, is having to weigh the possible gains from improved relations with China.

Park’s actions at the APEC Summit in Bali on Oct. 7 suggest that she has opted for stronger coordination with Beijing and a stricter stance with Tokyo. That afternoon, she had her second summit in just over three months with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the grand ballroom of Ayodya Resort in Bali, where she is staying on the trip.

During the meeting, the leaders reaffirmed their coordination and showed the closeness they have developed. Xi offered support to Park with unusually strongly worded messages of opposition to North Korea’s nuclear program and additional nuclear testing. They also discussed progress in negotiations toward a bilateral free trade agreement.

Meanwhile, Park continued to keep Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a distance. Both were scheduled to be present at around three formal meetings during the two-day event on Oct. 7 and 8, but did not meet directly - or set any plans to for a summit. South Korea had been expected to declare its participation in talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) at the meeting, but Park maintained a “wait-and-see” approach on the negotiations, which are being led by the US and Japan. Her plan appeared to be to propose bilateral FTA discussions with countries in the TPP talks to sound out the possible advantages or disadvantages.

Seoul also has yet to decide on a response to the US’s demands for a larger contribution to USFK defense costs and participation in the US missile defense system. This contrasts with Japan, which has been relatively eager to give the US the increased contribution it wants and participate in the TPP as a way of exercising its own right to collective self-defense.

Many observers are saying Park’s approach to Beijing and Tokyo is “fluid” and could change with the circumstances.

“If you consider that the military alliance with the US has been the basis of our national security to date, and that trade agreements like the TPP can’t just be ignored when they involve the national interest, she’s going to need to make some adjustments and decisions,” said a senior South Korean official on condition of anonymity.

A portion of the Japanese public is also calling for improvements in ties with Seoul. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper, a voice for the country’s progressives, printed an editorial on Oct. 7 acknowledging the distrust that South Korea and China feel toward Abe’s historical views and advising, “Where there’s this much distrust and discontent, it is all the more reason for President Park to meet with Prime Minister Abe and talk to him.”

The Asahi Shimbun article made points made points similar to those made by the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun on Oct. 3 - something analysts took as a sign that even Japan’s progressives have begun blaming the poor state of South Korean-Japanese relations less on Abe’s remarks about historical issues and more on Seoul’s lack of good faith.

Indeed, the Asahi Shimbun questioned whether “the wise approach between neighbors would not be to meet face to face and look for solutions rather than finding excuses to break off with Japan.”

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]