S. Korea Needs to Be in Step with Global De-sinicization Based on Alliance with the U.S.

With China-led global value chains collapsing in the wake of COVID-19, the global enterprises’ rush out of China is predicted to accelerate under the Joe Biden administration. Google, Microsoft, Foxconn and so on already initiated the relocation

The new U.S. president mentioned the restoration of alliances and unity before anything else. He is planning to dump the former president’s America First policy, which led to international isolation, and counter China’s economic, military and diplomatic hegemonism.

For this, the Joe Biden administration will share its hard-line stance against China and North Korea with its allies, implying some friction with South Korea which is favorable to both. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping talked by phone on Jan. 26 to discuss the latter’s state visit and so on. The Moon Jae-in administration has made numerous efforts for the Chinese and North Korean leaders’ state visits while concentrating on better inter-Korean relations and has been criticized as trying to use the visits for domestic political purposes.

However, in view of the partnership of Pyongyang and Beijing, the South Korean government has to drop its illusions that it can improve inter-Korean relations by using China as leverage. When it comes to diplomacy surrounding the Korean Peninsula, the top priority of both China and Russia is always the North. South Korea’s influence on the North as well as China can increase only when the Seoul-Washington alliance is strengthened.

The Moon Jae-in administration has maintained its diplomatic ambiguity by cooperating mainly with the United States in security and China in economy. The Joe Biden administration is likely to put more pressure on South Korea as the former is intending to work more closely with its allies in order to keep China in check in the fields of manufacturing and advanced technology. For South Korea, this is an opportunity rather than a risk. This is because it can smoothly reduce its economic dependence on China with the United States leading global value chain reshaping.

The U.S. president had a phone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Jan. 28 and the conversation between the U.S. and South Korean presidents, which is anticipated in the near future, is drawing much attention along with the issue of reshaping the new global value chain based on Seoul-Washington alliance.