China’s unequal treatment
Twenty-seven Japanese lawmakers, led by Keiji Furuya, chairman of the Japan-Taiwan Friendship Parliamentary League, visited Taiwan this month for the Double Ten National Day celebrations, where they met with President William Lai (賴清德) and other senior Taiwanese officials. Such visits have become routine for Japanese lawmakers, drawing little public reaction from Beijing. However, for South Korean lawmakers, it has been a different story.
Recent visits to Taiwan by South Korean members of the National Assembly have prompted not only strong protests from China, but also tangible diplomatic repercussions.
In August, Beijing refused to issue visas for South Korean lawmakers Kim Gi-hyeon of the People Power Party (PPP) and Kwak Sang-eon of the Democratic Party after they visited Taiwan earlier this year. The controversy drew attention in South Korea because both lawmakers are prominent figures domestically. Kim previously led the PPP when it was South Korea’s ruling party under former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol. Kwak is the son-in-law of former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun.
Accordingly, no South Korean lawmakers were listed among the foreign parliamentary delegations attending this year’s National Day celebrations.
Last year, South Korea was Taiwan’s third-largest trading partner, while Taiwan was South Korea’s fourth-largest. In both countries’ rankings, their trade with each other surpassed their trade with Japan.
Instead of forever making concessions to Beijing, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s administration should recognize that Chinese diplomatic pressure has crossed party lines, with Kwak, a member of Lee’s Democratic Party, among the lawmakers targeted over visits to Taiwan.
Moreover, China treats Seoul and Tokyo differently. In 2016, Seoul agreed to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, in response to North Korea’s growing nuclear missile threat. China fiercely opposed the decision. South Korea subsequently faced severe economic pressure affecting tourism, retail and entertainment. Japan has long maintained its own ballistic missile defense architecture, the US Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, which is similar in function to THAAD. Yet South Korea faced particularly intense Chinese economic sanctions over its missile defense decision.
That Beijing bullies South Korea in particular while applying different standards to Japan should raise questions among Seoul’s decisionmakers.
Alan Jeong
Northwestern University, Illinois