SunWuKong
08-13-2004, 10:24 AM
found two interesting articles of opposing views of the relationship between China and Korea. the first one concentrates mostly on the controversy surrounding the disputed parentage of the ancient Korean nation of Koguryo, the second one is a rebuff of the first article, and it reviews China-Korea relations in broader terms.
(both are a bit biased in my opinion...)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FH11Ad03.html
China ups ante in ancient-kingdom feud with Korea
By David Scofield
A growing political rift with China is exactly what South Korea doesn't need right now, given that relatively unfettered access to China's markets and labor is vital to keeping the Korean economy growing. But the unresolved ethnic parentage of Koguryo, a 1,400-year-old kingdom that stretched from Inner Mongolia in the north and included most of what is today North Korea in the south, has put the two nations on a collision course, and China isn't blinking.
Both South Korea and North Korea, however, are mute and seemingly paralyzed by this latest affront and example of China's much-vaunted "peaceful rise", one that could have territorial, military and strategic implications that eventually could benefit Beijing - but not the Korean Peninsula or North Asia. The deafening silence from Seoul and usually obstreperous Pyongyang stems in large part from economic reliance on China and historical deference to Beijing at a time when North and South should be working together to counter what appear to be China's politically motivated claims.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/FH14Dg02.html
Another (Asian) look at China-Korea ties
By Yu Shiyu
Recent reports about Sino-Korean relations and political developments on the Korean Peninsula have often contained views that can be termed Eurocentric regarding the history of that part of Asia. For example, both the Chinese academic establishment and the South Koreans from their government on down have been criticized for having engaged in "historical revisionism", a tendency that, according to these reports, reflects some myopic visions if not something even worse on the part of the "historical revisionists". In addition, both Beijing and the entire South Korean society, including the once arch anti-communist military, have been accused of turning a blind eye to North Korea's "crimes against humanity" in their respective efforts to appease Pyongyang.
Enormous changes are indeed happening in and around the Korean Peninsula that will fundamentally alter the geopolitical balance of the region. Many of these changes are in general rather damaging to the United States' interests, hence perhaps the aforementioned alarming criticism of both China and South Korea. However, this author ventures to opine that a more Asiacentric perspective on the long history of that part of Asia, especially that of Sino-Korean relations, is called for before one addresses what are frankly mostly Eurocentric concerns quoted above.
(both are a bit biased in my opinion...)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FH11Ad03.html
China ups ante in ancient-kingdom feud with Korea
By David Scofield
A growing political rift with China is exactly what South Korea doesn't need right now, given that relatively unfettered access to China's markets and labor is vital to keeping the Korean economy growing. But the unresolved ethnic parentage of Koguryo, a 1,400-year-old kingdom that stretched from Inner Mongolia in the north and included most of what is today North Korea in the south, has put the two nations on a collision course, and China isn't blinking.
Both South Korea and North Korea, however, are mute and seemingly paralyzed by this latest affront and example of China's much-vaunted "peaceful rise", one that could have territorial, military and strategic implications that eventually could benefit Beijing - but not the Korean Peninsula or North Asia. The deafening silence from Seoul and usually obstreperous Pyongyang stems in large part from economic reliance on China and historical deference to Beijing at a time when North and South should be working together to counter what appear to be China's politically motivated claims.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/FH14Dg02.html
Another (Asian) look at China-Korea ties
By Yu Shiyu
Recent reports about Sino-Korean relations and political developments on the Korean Peninsula have often contained views that can be termed Eurocentric regarding the history of that part of Asia. For example, both the Chinese academic establishment and the South Koreans from their government on down have been criticized for having engaged in "historical revisionism", a tendency that, according to these reports, reflects some myopic visions if not something even worse on the part of the "historical revisionists". In addition, both Beijing and the entire South Korean society, including the once arch anti-communist military, have been accused of turning a blind eye to North Korea's "crimes against humanity" in their respective efforts to appease Pyongyang.
Enormous changes are indeed happening in and around the Korean Peninsula that will fundamentally alter the geopolitical balance of the region. Many of these changes are in general rather damaging to the United States' interests, hence perhaps the aforementioned alarming criticism of both China and South Korea. However, this author ventures to opine that a more Asiacentric perspective on the long history of that part of Asia, especially that of Sino-Korean relations, is called for before one addresses what are frankly mostly Eurocentric concerns quoted above.