[앵커]
Chinese state media expressed concern and dissatisfaction with yesterday’s US-ROK summit.
He pointed out that Korea is on the side of the United States and has entered the path of deterring China, which in the end will be detrimental to Korea.
Let’s take a look at Beijing. Correspondent Kang Sung-woong!
Have there been any reactions from the Chinese Communist Party’s newspapers or state-run media?
[기자]
Yes, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, People’s Daily, posted on the overseas internet version that the purpose of President Biden’s Asia tour was to put pressure on China.
He also argued that the United States brought South Korea into public pressure with the inauguration of the Yun Seok-yeol administration, which aims to strengthen the ROK-U.S. alliance.
In particular, he criticized the US-led IPEF, or ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Framework,’ as a de facto deterrent to China’s development, only aimed at opening up in words.
The Internet version of the People’s Daily also pointed out that Korea-China relations should not be subordinated to Korea-US relations because South Korea and China are neighbors and important trading partners.
He also argued that South Korea’s national interests are not exactly aligned with those of the United States, and that if South Korea sided with the United States, it would be in the United States’ national interest, but might seriously damage South Korea’s interests.
[앵커]
What specifically does it mean that South Korea will lose money if the ROK-US strengthens its alliance?
[기자]
I am not saying that I will impose sanctions on Korea in detail, but I am arguing that Korea will not benefit much from the IPEF.
Citing Japan’s Kyodo News, the Chinese government media, the Chinese newspaper network, pointed out that the IPEF is not considering a tariff cut, which is not good for Asia-Pacific countries looking to expand their presence in the US market.
The international version of the state-run Xinhua News Agency also raised this logic and checked that the US-led IPEF would bring less benefit to regional countries than the China-led RCEP, that is, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
Chinese state media also said that the strengthening of the US alliance is an attempt to encircle China, which would lead to a military confrontation between the US and China, which Asian countries did not want.
The logic is that this will destabilize the regional situation and threaten the development of the dynamic and high growth potential of Asia.
At the same time, state-run media are also arguing that China should increase its military power.
[앵커]
It seems that China is not at the stage where it is taking a concrete response, but what do you think will happen in the future?
[기자]
As China has stated itself, since trade and economic cooperation between Korea and China are important, all-out sanctions or retaliation are likely to be a burden on China as well.
China may have gained something from retaliation such as in the case of the THAAD incident in the past, but there is also an aspect that has the adverse effect of strengthening the ROK-U.S. alliance by arousing anti-Chinese sentiment in the end.
However, since China is Korea’s number one export partner, and Korea in particular is highly dependent on Chinese raw materials, there is a possibility that Korea-China relations will be at a disadvantage for each other if Korea-China relations escalate.
In particular, China provided support to Korea during the urea water crisis last year, but there is also an expectation that it may become difficult to expect support from China in such a situation in the future.
So far, this is Sungwoong Kang from YTN in Beijing.
YTN Kang Sung-woong (swkang@ytn.co.kr)
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