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The world map titled “China’s position” that ran on the front page of China’s state-run newspaper the China Daily.

On July 13, two days after the Permanent Court of Arbitration made its ruling about the South China Sea, China’s state-run newspaper the China Daily printed a world map on its front page titled “China’s position.”

“More than 70 countries have publicly voiced their support for China’s position that the dispute over the South China Sea should be resolved not through arbitration but through negotiations,” said an explanation attached to the map.

On the map, the countries that support China were colored in red. With large countries including China, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and India marked in red, Asia appeared to be firmly tilted toward China. About half of Africa was red as well.

The only countries that were blue – indicating their support for the Philippines – were the US, Japan, the UK, Australia and Vietnam. “For the most part, the US and a few of its close allies support the Philippines and believe that the decision of the Court of Arbitration has legal force,” China said.

The rest of the countries were white, meaning that they were neutral or had not publicly expressed their position by the time the story went to print. One of those white countries was South Korea.

As I looked at the map China was offering in support of its claims, it occurred to me that this was a scoreboard showing the tally that China was keeping for each country around the world.

Setting aside US-China relations since Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power, numerous other countries around the world have had some difficult decisions to make. Perhaps the three best-known decisions have had to do with China’s military parade in Sep. 2015, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and now the dispute in the South China Sea. With each of those decisions, countries have either delighted China and gained its gratitude or angered China and earned its disappointment.

There are 10 countries that have delighted China the most – which is to say, they have sent their head of state to China’s military parade, enrolled in its investment bank and taken its side in the South China Sea dispute. Those countries are Laos, Russia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. Since Poland sent the speaker of its lower house to the military parade, it is also regarded as a country whose leader participated in the parade, which would bring the list to 11 countries. These are countries that are likely to be treated with respect by China’s foreign policy makers in the future.

There are 19 countries that have sided with China on just two of these three issues. Of the 19, 14 countries (including Malaysia, Venezuela, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) have taken China’s side on the issue of the South China Sea, while only participating in either the military parade or in the investment bank.

On the day of the court’s decision, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that it respected the decision, but China nevertheless categorized India as being on its side.

South Korea, South Africa, Myanmar and Thailand are four countries that have made China happy in regard to the military parade and the investment bank, but have hesitated to support China on the issue of the South China Sea.

But South Korea is not in the same position as these three countries. Since both Myanmar and Thailand – which are members of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) - are unconnected with the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, their position is that they will abide by ASEAN’s decision. However, Myanmar is a traditional ally of China, and Thailand has recently annoyed the US by announcing its decision to purchase Chinese submarines.

Immediately after the court’s decision, South Africa effectively expressed its support for China (another member of the five emerging economies known as BRICS) by calling for sovereign states to resolve the issue through direct negotiations based on historical facts and international law.

While the comparison is simplistic, if you had to choose the country that is the most similar to South Korea on this issue, it would be Vietnam. While Vietnam’s leader participated in China’s military parade and Vietnam has joined China’s investment bank, Vietnam is in the middle of a territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea. South Korea is at some remove from the issues in the South China Sea, and it has played a solid diplomatic game by simultaneously endorsing the “freedom of navigation” emphasized by the US and the “decision by the parties involved” emphasized by China.

But oddly enough (though it may be deliberate), the decision to deploy the THAAD antimissile system in South Korea at this precise time has earned China’s ire and squandered all of South Korea’s diplomatic credit in regard to the South China Sea. It’s unfortunate that all that effort went to waste; it’s also a shame that the government was rash enough to let that happen.

By Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent

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