Hidden motive behind Chinese claim of Kokuryo

[bkim1974]

A popular belief among Korean academics is that the true motive behind the recent Chinese claim of ancient Kokuryo as a sovereign Chinese state is to built legitimacy for claiming North Korean territory when the regime finally collapses. Many people take it for granted that when Kim Jong Il's regime collapses, it will be naturally be united with the south. There is a discinct possibility that China will claim North Korea as its own.

Any thoughts?

[sageb1]

Kokuryo was aligned with China since the 1000s.

prior to that Japan was actually in alliance with at least one state in the south.

they only broke off relations with that state because it was expensive and because too many Chinese and Koreans were getting into the nobility in Japan.

that's the root of why foreigners weren't allowed citizenship in Japan.

they might try to rule Japan.

[SunWuKong]

Kokuryo was aligned with China since the 1000s.

the problem with what you're saying here is that... Goguryeo (Kokuryo) was destroyed in 668 AD...

[AliBabaIncorporated]

If and when the Kim dynasty collapses, China will act to secure their commercial interests and their border, not to invade the whole damn country and thus end up having to foot the bill for maintaining order and trying to build the place back up into some semblance of functionality. Let the South Koreans pay for that ... oh wait, they don't want to either ...

[VV o n g B a]

it wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea for china to do more than secure their commercial interests if the north collapses. if it looked like complete chaos would reign, and china stepped in to restore order, the north koreans would prolly be grateful and give the chinese preferential trade treatment. it would also ensure that the US didn't step in to fill the vacuum instead.

[SunWuKong]

i guess it is a possible scenario that the PRC wants to take over North Korea. who knows what those out-of-touch fat cats in the central government are thinking. but it honestly doesn't make much sense to do this. they are trying to build up their international image, i hope they are aware what kind of negative impact to their image it would have if they took over North Korea. then again, judging from some of the things they do, it does seem like they don't know how to gauge how their actions affect their image, beyond throwing money at developing countries.

security wise, if they take over North Korea, they'd have to set up defenses along the 38th parallel... as opposed to bulking up the defenses at their North Korean border. yeah the 38th parallel is a smaller border, but how much difference can it really make? plus, they have recently ceded disputed territories to Russia and India in order to improve relations. that seems to indicate they are not too interested in expanding their territories. (but Taiwan is a different issue altogether.)

i think western media tries to paint a picture that the PRC is expansionistic because of Tibet, Taiwan, and probably Xinjiang. but really, the PRC only wanted to recover the territories that the Qing court ruled over, and the Qing court did not exert direct control over Korea.

[VV o n g B a]

if the PRC spins it correctly, it wouldn't look quite so bad. they might even look good. they could go in under a UN umbrella if they wanted a better image. the US would be there too in that case, but at least the US wouldn't be there alone. once they get NK back on its feet, and i'm just talking about security and not economics, they get out along w/ everyone else.

it wouldn't be like iraq b/c the PRC prolly wouldn't impose instant democracy on a group of ppl who haven't been properly introduced and educated in it. and there wouldn't be so much ethnic violence... or maybe any at all.

[SunWuKong]

if the PRC spins it correctly, it wouldn't look quite so bad. they might even look good. they could go in under a UN umbrella if they wanted a better image. the US would be there too in that case, but at least the US wouldn't be there alone. once they get NK back on its feet, and i'm just talking about security and not economics, they get out along w/ everyone else.

it wouldn't be like iraq b/c the PRC prolly wouldn't impose instant democracy on a group of ppl who haven't been properly introduced and educated in it. and there wouldn't be so much ethnic violence... or maybe any at all.

i don't really see how it could look good, given that South Korea is probably what people would think is the best country to "go in" to North Korea and get it back on its feet.

and through all this, we haven't covered that the PRC ought to do "the right thing", which is to let the Koreas reunify.

[VV o n g B a]

i was just going on the assumption that alibaba had... that sk wouldn't want to pay for getting nk back on its feet by themselves. of course the right thing is to let them unify.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Often times stuff like this clearly has motives wide out in the open to not even speak of hidden agendas. A lot of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and basically probably every other type of countryman would love to believe (or claim) that their history is full of glorious conquests, rich prosperous empires, and victories over other nations or states.

[bkim1974]

i think western media tries to paint a picture that the PRC is expansionistic because of Tibet, Taiwan, and probably Xinjiang. but really, the PRC only wanted to recover the territories that the Qing court ruled over, and the Qing court did not exert direct control over Korea.

Good point. However you are forgetting the fact that China and Japan probably do not want a unified Korea as their neighboor if they can help it. I think this is especially true for Japan. A unified Korea means a stronger Korea down the line.

[SunWuKong]

Good point. However you are forgetting the fact that China and Japan probably do not want a unified Korea as their neighboor if they can help it. I think this is especially true for Japan. A unified Korea means a stronger Korea down the line.

actually i don't understand why China wouldn't want a stronger Korea. i do agree that China wants the status quo because a unified Korea means less FDI into China from South Korea, and possibly a lot of North Korean refugees heading into China. but i don't see the reason being that Korea would be "stronger".

let me put it this way - China wouldn't mind a stronger South Korea right now. that means more investment money for China, a bigger market for Chinese goods, and more influence to rein in North Korea.