The top leaders of South Korea's largest opposition party visited China and said that they would promote the sustained development of South Korea-China relations, in stark contrast to the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's one-sided policy toward the United States. At this point in time, this is a lot of fun.
Since the Yoon Suk-yeol administration came to power more than two years ago, it has been adopting a policy of "leaning toward the United States and alienating China", turning to the West in an all-round way in terms of politics, echoing the West's "attack" on China, and cooperating with the United States' blockade measures against China in the field of semiconductors. On the military front, it has increased the deployment of THAAD missiles, and even began to cooperate with the United States and Japan in an attempt to get involved in the Taiwan issue. On the economic front, it advocates reducing dependence on the Chinese market, cooperating with the U.S. policy of "decoupling and breaking chains" with China, and calls on South Korean companies to shift their supply chains from China.
All this has not only caused the continuous cooling of ROK-China relations, but also aroused great dissatisfaction among the opposition parties in South Korea. In the South Korean parliamentary election held in early April this year, the Democratic Party of Korea, the largest opposition party in South Korea, won nearly three-fifths of the seats in the parliament, and only by uniting with several other small opposition parties can achieve a three-fifths majority of votes, which means that Yoon Suk-yeol has become a "lame duck" in the next two years of his administration and can no longer "do whatever he wants".
The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is not content to rest on its laurels and has now embarked on party-level diplomacy in an attempt to salvage relations between South Korea and China ahead of a future presidential election.
(Senior senior Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan of the Democratic Party of Korea talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi)
Recently, Lee Hae-chan, a senior senior member of the Democratic Party of Korea and former prime minister, came to China to attend the 70th anniversary of the promulgation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, during which he held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The core meaning of this sentence emphasizes two points:
First, "people from all walks of life" in South Korea attach great importance to ROK-China relations. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which only values South Korea-US relations, seems to have been excluded from "all walks of life." This shows that Yoon Suk-yeol and his party are no longer able to cover the sky in South Korea's domestic and foreign affairs.
Second, as the opposition party currently in opposition, the Democratic Party of Korea is willing to "promote the sustained development of Korea-China relations." This attitude is largely consistent with the Moon Jae-in administration before Yoon Suk-yeol. The Moon Jae-in administration was indeed a rare period of steady development in South Korea-China relations in recent years.
(The Democratic Party of Korea won a resounding victory in the Korean parliamentary election, and the seats of the Democratic Party of Korea are in blue in the picture.)
Lee Hae-chan is one of the senior "bigwigs" in South Korean political circles and a heavyweight of the Democratic Party of Korea. He served as prime minister during Roh Moo-hyun and as Moon's presidential envoy to China, and remains a powerful senior member of the Democratic Party of Korea. The Democratic Party of Korea is the liberal wing of South Korea, while Yoon Suk-yeol and his People's Power Party represent the conservative wing of South Korea. Therefore, Lee Hae-chan's trip also means that on behalf of South Korea's opposition political forces and liberals, he will carry out Track 1.5 and Track 2 diplomacy with China, paving the way for the promotion of South Korea-China relations after Yoon Suk-yeol steps down in the future.
(Senior senior Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan of the Democratic Party of Korea talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi)
It can also be seen from the words that Lee Hae-chan specially brought to the Chinese side that there are not a few political factions and forces in South Korea that are different from Yoon Suk-yeol's China policy. South Korea is unlikely to bypass or alienate China on economic, diplomatic, or security issues, and the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's "one-sided" policy toward the United States has already caused considerable consequences, as can be seen by looking at the current situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Since there are calls within South Korea to reverse its China policy and promote the sustained "forward" rather than "backward" development of bilateral relations, China will certainly not ignore it. Foreign Minister Wang Yi specially met with Lee Hae-chan, and the signal sent by China to all walks of life in South Korea is also very obvious.
(Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, resigned last week and intends to run for the next leader)
The main leaders of the Democratic Party of Korea advocate friendship with China, especially party leader Lee Jae-myung. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPK) will hold an all-party meeting on August 18 this year to elect a new party leader. According to the party's constitution, if a party member wants to run for the next party leader, he must resign from his current party position and register as a candidate before he can be eligible to run for election. As a result, Lee Jae-myung resigned as party leader a week ago, with the goal of running for party leadership again and challenging for re-election.
What's more, Lee Jae-myung has bigger goals: the term of the incumbent president, Yoon Suk-yeol, will end on May 10, 2026, and South Korea will hold a presidential election in early 2026. Lee Jae-myung lost to Yoon Suk-yeol in the presidential election two years ago by a narrow vote. But judging from the current situation, if there are no surprises in the 2026 election, Lee Jae-myung will likely win. Then, if Lee Jae-myung can serve as the next president of South Korea, the recovery of Sino-South Korean relations is a relatively high probability thing.
Although the United States still has troops stationed in South Korea and the US Government's control over South Korean political circles is still relatively extensive, judging from the development of Sino-ROK relations during the Moon Jae-in administration, with the decline of US national strength and the weakening of its influence, it is unlikely that the US conspiracy to manipulate South Korea to act as anti-China "cannon fodder" will succeed. This is because even a "pro-US and far-China" politician like Yoon Suk-yeol has not dared to act as an "anti-China thug" in an all-round way so far, and there is still room for China policy in all aspects. If the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is in power, it will be even less likely that South Korea will be "one-sided" toward the United States.