hankyoreh

An ethnically Korean Chinese participant dressed in a hanbok waves her hand to the crowd during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, held at the National Stadium on the evening of Feb. 4, 2022. (Yonhap News)

A recent survey found that attitudes on South Korea-China relations significantly differ between South Korean experts and Chinese experts, with the former pointing to “nationalistic conflict” as the major factor obstructing relations between South Korea and China, while the latter chose “external factors including international politics” as the reason the two countries didn’t have better ties.

To mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China, Sungkyunkwan University’s Sungkyun Institute of China Studies released the results of its “2022 Survey on Mutual Perception Between South Korea and China Experts,” which studied how Korean researchers of China and Chinese researchers of Korea perceived relations between the two countries.

According to the survey, which asked 100 South Korean experts and 100 Chinese experts the same set of questions and compared the former’s response with that of the latter, the two groups had markedly different views on each other’s countries according to field.

Survey results indicated that Chinese experts had a more optimistic view of South Korea-China relations than South Korean experts. On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 representing the score for South Korea-China relations at their best since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1992, South Korean experts rated the two countries’ ties as they stand currently with a score of 4.66 points, while Chinese experts gave them 6.24 points.

South Korean experts and Chinese experts diverged once again when they were asked to rate what they believed their countries’ relations would look like in five years, the former answering with a score of 4.92 points while the latter responded with a score of 7.02 points.

While South Korean experts chose “differences in historical and cultural perceptions” and “nationalistic conflict” as the main factors hindering better relations between South Korea and China, Chinese experts responded that “external factors including international politics” were the main reason that held back the two countries from improving their relations.

The survey showed that South Korean experts in social and cultural affairs had the most unfavorable view of China among experts in different fields. South Korean experts in economic cooperation, foreign policy and security, and social and cultural affairs each rated South Korea’s ties with China with a score of 5.77 points, 4.47 points, and 3.99 points, respectively. The Sungkyun Institute explained that this was probably an effect of China-related controversies in South Korea, such as BTS’ statement on the Korean War and online discourse surrounding kimchi and hanbok.

On the other hand, Chinese experts in foreign policy and security had the most unfavorable view of South Korea among experts in different fields. Chinese experts in economic cooperation, social and cultural affairs, and foreign policy and security each rated China’s ties with South Korea with a score of 7.34 points, 6.04 points, and 5.33 points, respectively.

The Sungkyun Institute stated, “The survey results show that South Korean and Chinese experts in different fields harbor different views on ties between South Korea and China. Reflected in the recent relations between the two countries are historical and cultural conflicts that surfaced in South Korea, as well as external factors such as the strategic competition between the US and China.”

The institute also proposed the “principle of separating issues” to improve t ties between South Korea and China. The principle suggests that the two countries should not repeat the mistake they made in 2017, when the security issue of a THAAD deployment on South Korean soil stirred economic and social conflict between South Korea and China, worsening their ties.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

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