Korea

Cultural historian Cheng Pei-kai takes us back to his trip to Shengzhou, Zhejiang, where he visited the gravesite of Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi, the Sage of Calligraphy. In the depths of the lush forest with mountains peeking through, what does it mean to travel the distance to pay respects to an ancestor and honour their virtues?

Amid the ongoing US-China rivalry, both powers have been sending their navies on exercises in the Yellow Sea, as a signal to each side, stopping just short of actual engagement. This mirrors earlier near-confrontations. Is this all just military posturing ahead of a possible Xi Jinping-Joe Biden summit before the end of the year?

With North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia recently, observers worry that North Korea and Russia, together with China, are drawing closer, forming a greater “axis” of nuclear threat. But academic Jin Kai sees the sense of a greater “alliance” forming as all part of the US and its allies’ “geopolitical imagination”, which could see them taking steps that escalate the situation in the Korean peninsula.

The solidarity between North Korea and Russia based on an “anti-imperialist” or anti-American mindset can be said to be a strategic and simple construct: “An enemy’s friend is an enemy.” 

Propaganda campaigns against Japan may leave China turning a deaf ear to Japan’s explanations about the discharge of Fukushima treated water, says Japanese academic Shin Kawashima. This can only have dire consequences for Japan-China relations.

The world appears to be getting more fractured and polarised, with the US and its allies meeting at Camp David recently, and the BRICS summit in Johannesburg issuing invitations for admission to six countries. While both the US and China are building their own alliances and partnerships, now more than ever, they need to improve their direct communication with each other, says US academic Zhu Zhiqun.

As China becomes more self-sufficient in producing its own goods, South Korea — one of China’s major trading partners — has to look to other countries to reduce its reliance on the Chinese market. Given the growing economic and trade relations, as well as the flourishing people-to-people exchanges, Vietnam has become a top choice for South Korea to expand its market.

Comments by Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi recently to Japanese and South Korean guests at a forum that they could never be a Westerner, and encouraging greater China-Japan-South Korean cooperation have ignited some backlash in Japan. Academic Shin Kawashima says that it would be almost unthinkable for Japan and South Korea to respond to such a call from China.

With South Korea working on bilateral and multilateral international relations, especially with the US and Japan, it is perhaps unsurprising that China is not quite at ease with South Korea’s stand. Recent comments by Chinese ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming implying that South Korea’s pro-US stance will not lead to a good outcome has raised hackles in South Korea. Academic Kang Jun-young tells us more.