Yoon govt should act on words of friendship

This is an editorial from China Daily.

A couple of days ago, the government of the Republic of Korea abruptly softened its rhetoric on China, stressing the "friendship" between the two countries. Yet, judging by ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol's remarks on Wednesday, there is still a long way to go for Seoul to have a correct perspective on its ties with Beijing.

In his speech on the 69th founding anniversary of the Korea Freedom Federation, in which he targeted his domestic rivals, Yoon also took the opportunity to brag about his achievements in strengthening ties with the United States and Japan as well as his efforts in elevating the ROK's diplomacy to pivotal global diplomacy, which he claimed China looks down on.

Yoon's reference to China does not make any sense as China has always treated other countries, whether big or small, on an equal footing.

ROK Foreign Minister Park Jin said on June 25 that the basic stance of the Yoon government is to advance ROK-China relations into a mature and healthy state based on mutual respect, reciprocity and common interest, and Seoul sees "no reason to antagonize China and has no will to do so". But it is hard to believe that Yoon has suddenly seen the light and realized the error of his stance toward China.

Unfortunately, since Yoon took office, it seems all Seoul has done is to provoke tensions with Beijing. Yoon has decided to side with the US and enthusiastically jumped on the US' "Indo-Pacific" strategy bandwagon aimed at containing China. Yoon may be betting that the US' support will raise the ROK's profile. But such an opportunist approach could easily backfire. This explains why cries in the ROK calling for the Yoon government to repair ties with Beijing emerged after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's fence-mending visit to Beijing last month.

The Yoon government's policy has already damaged China's interests on security and trade issues and cast a shadow on the strategic partnership that the two sides have worked so hard to build over the years. The Yoon government should note that thanks to their pragmatic cooperation over the past three decades, China and the ROK have achieved common development and prosperity. China remains the ROK's top export destination and trade partner. If the Yoon government really cares about China-ROK ties, it should stop allowing its alliance with the US to factor into them. Mutual trust between the two neighbors is already alarmingly low.

It would cater to the interests of both if the Yoon government could view the larger picture of China-ROK ties and properly handle its differences with Beijing and inject some positive momentum into bilateral cooperation.