China’s Rise and Security Dynamics on the Korean Peninsula
This chapter looks at South Korea's response to the rise of China. It establishes South Korea's growing dependence on the Chinese economy and its growing cooperation with China to manage North Korean belligerence. The rise of China creates strategic pressure on South Korea both to accommodate Chinese interests and to maintain defense cooperation with the United States, and that this policy challenge is exacerbated by politically significant anti-Japanese nationalism in South Korea. The result has been significant South Korean policy instability. The policy swings in South Korea's maneuvering between the United States and China from the government of Roh Moo-hyun to that of Lee Myung-bak and then to Park Geun-hye reveal the difficulty that great power competition during a power transition imposes on a small country.