Re:Dealing with China Isn’t Worth the Moral Cost
by yongjik on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @11:12PM
(#21210498)
A few years ago, South Korea's then conservative government decided to let US force build an anti-missile radar facility called THAAD, which conveniently was powerful enough to see through Chinese airspace up to Beijing (or so I've heard). Of course China didn't like it - and actually a lot of Koreans objected to it, viewing it as needlessly putting ourselves in the middle of geopolitical game between two superpowers.
But then China went completely overboard, banning Chinese tourism to Korea, and forcing out many Korean companies from Chinese market. And to what end? It hurt Korean economy a bit, but the primary effect was that Koreans' opinion on China cooled down remarkably.
As some of you may remember, the conservative president got kicked out in 2017 amid national protest - we now have a reformist president who is less pro-American than his predecessor. If China waited just a bit, they could have negotiated a better position. But they had already played their cards. THAAD is getting built anyway.
It seems China's national pride is getting in the way of their diplomacy.
But then China went completely overboard, banning Chinese tourism to Korea, and forcing out many Korean companies from Chinese market. And to what end? It hurt Korean economy a bit, but the primary effect was that Koreans' opinion on China cooled down remarkably.
As some of you may remember, the conservative president got kicked out in 2017 amid national protest - we now have a reformist president who is less pro-American than his predecessor. If China waited just a bit, they could have negotiated a better position. But they had already played their cards. THAAD is getting built anyway.
It seems China's national pride is getting in the way of their diplomacy.