Lee Jae-myung and his wife visit

On August 24th, a key meeting point of South Korea's diplomacy, high-level contacts facing Japan, the United States and China were almost simultaneously.

That day, the presidentLee is out.He ended his visit to Japan with the first consensus document between South Korea and Japan heads of state in 17 years; then rushed to the next stop in the United States without stopping; at the same time, the presidential special envoy group began its trip to China, and the Speaker of the National Assembly may "take over" and come to China to attend the 93th military parade.

After only two months in office, Li Zaiming's "great power diplomacy" seems to have been laid out. What are the hidden considerations behind it?

Against the Sun: Bold and Practical

On the 24th, Li Ziming's two-day "shuttle diplomacy" with Japan came to an end.

The day before, Lee Jae-myung held a small-scale meeting and an enlarged meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, which lasted for about 2 hours. The two sides discussed a wide range of issues such as bilateral relations, cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan, and the North Korean issue.

After the meeting, the two heads of state issued a joint press release.

According to the Japanese public opinion, this is the first time in 17 years that the leaders of the two countries have issued a summit consensus document comprehensively covering bilateral relations.

According to the communique ́, the two sides agreed to steadily advance "future-oriented" bilateral relations.

Specific consensus and measures include: strengthening strategic communication and cooperation in areas such as security; Promote cooperation in hydrogen energy, artificial intelligence and other fields; Establish an intergovernmental consultation mechanism between the two countries on common issues such as local revitalization, low birth and aging; Expand the working holiday visa system for young people, and further promote personnel exchanges between the two sides.

Li's attention to the visit to Japan is very high, not less than his predecessor Yin Ziyu's "Ice Breaking Journey".In the meantime, this visit broke the practice and created several "first times": for the first time in the 60 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, the South Korean president "first day after the United States" visited Japan as the first country, and issued a joint press release for the first time since 2008; Secondly, Li's attitude toward Japan and the hard position before taking office formed a marked contrast.

Li Jae-myung meets with Shigeru Ishiba

"From setting Japan as a priority country to visit for the first time over the United States to issuing a joint press communique, it highlights that Li Jaiming has taken the initiative to guide and create an atmosphere, and his policy towards Japan is more bold and practical."Wang Junsheng, a researcher at the Institute of Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social SciencesSay to .

There are dual internal and external reasons behind this.

Internally, it meets the demands of conservatives to continue to develop relations with Japan, so as to alleviate political polarization and stabilize the domestic political situation.

Externally, we should demonstrate to the Japanese side that we always attach importance to South Korea-Japan relations, appease the Japanese side's concerns about its previous negative remarks related to Japan, and safeguard the extensive common interests of the two sides in the fields of security, economy and trade.

At the same time, "pick up" to Japan and learn how to deal with the Trump administration in order to develop relations with the United States.

"Whether it is South Korea or Japan, the primary direction of diplomacy is to develop and consolidate the alliance with the United States, and the two countries are facing highly similar status quo and environment in dealing with relations with the United States."

Wang Junsheng forecasts that the next development of South Korea-Japan relations will be relatively smooth, with low uncertainty, but historical and territorial issues remain long-term hidden dangers.

Towards the United States: Mutual benefit and contradiction

After his visit to Japan, Lee Jae-myung flew to Washington on the 24th for a three-day working visit to the United States.

South Korean Foreign Minister Zhao Zhao has arrived early and met with officials such as U.S. Secretary of State Rubio on 22rd to coordinate the agenda of the US-Korean heads of state talks scheduled for 25th.

The leaders of South Korea and the United States are expected to focus on three key issues.

The first is the modernization of the Korean-American alliance, which involves the flexible deployment of U.S. troops in South Korea, the increase of national defense budgets and defense spending.

US President Donald Trump intends to lay out a long "list of demands" for South Korea: including considering reducing the size of the military presence to achieve strategic flexibility, calling on South Korea to raise its defense contribution from more than $1 billion to 5 billion or even $10 billion, and increasing defense spending from 3.8% of GDP to 5%. It is expected that the two sides will have to haggle at that time.

The second is the North Korean issue. So far, North Korea has not accepted the "olive branch" offered by the Lee Jae-ming government to ease relations.

Just before the Korean-American summit and during the joint military exercises of the two countries, Pyongyang tested two new types of air defense missiles on the 23rd.

The two heads of state will exchange views on the resumption of Korean and even US-Korean dialogue and the strengthening of U.S.-Japan-Korea cooperation.

The third is economic and trade issues. Including refining tariff agreements and strengthening cooperation in fields such as semiconductors and shipbuilding.

On the last day of his visit to the United States, Lee will travel to Philadelphia to visit the Philadelphia shipyard acquired by Korean shipbuilding company Huawei Ocean.

Wang Jinping added that the Korean-American summit is also expected to involve the Chinese issue, and in the face of U.S. pressure on China and China, Li in the Ming government to respond is worthy of concern.

There are also comments that in the face of Trump's "Lion's Open" and its uncertainty, Lee was in this visit with high risk and small earnings.

Wang Junsheng believes that South Korea and the United States share common interests in the fields of security, economy and trade, but there are also contradictions on issues such as alliance modernization and defense costs.

"Objectively speaking, the relationship between the United States and South Korea is not symmetrical, and the United States has more cards." Wang Junsheng said that since Lee Jae-myung attaches great importance to the South Korea-US alliance, it is highly likely that it will benefit, but it will also safeguard South Korea's interests. The key depends on how Seoul finds a balance between the two.

China: Attention and Balance

Also on the 24th, the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, the special envoy of the President of South Korea will visit China.

The special envoy group was led by former Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byung-suk, and its members included many "China hands".

According to a briefing from the South Korean President's Office, this trip will emphasize the importance of the continued development of the strategic partnership between the two countries. During the four-day visit, the special envoy group will participate in activities commemorating the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, meet with important people such as the China Foreign Minister, and ask Chinese people to hand over Li Zaiming's personal letter to China leaders.

Following the special mission, as the "No. 2 person" in the South Korean national ceremonial series, Congressman Wu Yuanzong is expected to be invited to attend the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people's war of resistance to Japan and the world war against fascism.

Wang Junsheng said that this series of diplomatic offensives against China reflects the "two-sided nature" of Li Ziming's China policy-both emphasis and balance.

On the one hand, it attaches great importance to its relations with China.

Li Zaiming released clear and consistent signals before and after taking office, emphasizing the pragmatic handling of relations with China, especially the need to strengthen cooperation with China in the field of economy and trade and the Korean Peninsula issue.

On the other hand, in the context of competition between China and the United States, we have balanced recent diplomatic activities with Japan and the United States.

However, judging from the signs that Li Zaiming himself has not yet visited China and may be absent from the September 3rd military parade, Li Zaiming also seems to be deliberately keeping a distance from China, perhaps to a certain extent in consideration of relations with the United States and to reassure the United States.

Overall, Wang Jinping has a positive optimistic attitude towards the development of China-Korea relations, but also hopes that the South Korean government will go face-to-face with China, deal with the U.S. and China relations with a bowl of water and not put China-Korea relations into the framework of the Korean-American alliance to deal with.

Li in Ming appears to be deliberately keeping distance from China.

The tangle behind "practical"?

The public opinion believes that the wave of "grand-power diplomacy" in South Korea reflects Li's "practical diplomacy" characteristic based on the interests of the country.

Throughout Lee Jae-myung's foreign policy exposition during the election campaign and after taking office, although there are subtle differences or even corrections, the core remains unchanged, that is, he emphasizes "pragmatic diplomacy" and advocates realizing diplomatic diversification on the basis of safeguarding South Korea's national interests. This is considered to be completely different from the "value diplomacy" promoted by Yin Xiyue.

However, in Wang Junsheng's view, Li Zaiming has not completely abandoned the foreign policy of the former government, which is both different and continuous.

The difference is reflected in the fact that Lee is more pragmatic, which means that he is not attached to ideology, is flexible, and at the same time focuses more on ¡°balance¡± rather than ¡°backward.¡±

Continuity now shows that the US-Korean alliance is at the core of foreign policy and attaches importance to Korean-Japanese relations, even faster than Yong Zhi has.

"This is mainly based on personal political interests and domestic and foreign political considerations." Wang Jin-sung said that once he solidified his own governing position, secondly because of the weakness of the United States and South Korea had to look at the eyes of the United States, reflecting the lack of independent autonomy of South Korea's foreign policy.

Wang Jinping further pointed out that "confrontation" can also be considered as a key word for Li's foreign policy in the Ming government.

"Li Zaiming's foreign policy shows a torn'both want and want '." Wang Junsheng said that it is necessary to attach great importance to the US-South Korea alliance, as well as South Korea-Japan relations, and at the same time want to develop China-South Korea relations. The policy lacks clear main lines and basic principles.

For example, the new Foreign Minister of South Korea, Zhao Zhao, made an inappropriate speech about China when he first visited the United States in an interview with U.S. media, but the South Korean government immediately clarified it, reflecting the curved mentality of South Korea that it "wants both to please the United States and not to blame China."

However, Wang Junsheng emphasized that Li Ziming has only taken office for more than two months, and foreign policy has not yet taken shape. Continuous observation is still needed, and it is not advisable to draw conclusions too early.

Public opinion in South Korea seems to see Lee Jae-ming's heavy diplomatic burden. Some commentators said that the current international situation is complex and severe-intensified strategic competition between China and the United States, increased tariffs imposed by the United States, differences in defense fees for the US military stationed in South Korea, coupled with the North Korean nuclear issue, issues left over from South Korea and Japan's history, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. South Korea's diplomacy is full of problems. Whether the Lee Jae-ming government can respond pragmatically and flexibly as it says is probably an arduous challenge.

(Editor's email: ylq@jfdaily.com)

Original title: "Depth | Launch an" offensive "against Japan, the United States, and China simultaneously. Why is Lee Jae-myung's" great power diplomacy "" both necessary and necessary "?"

Author of the column: Yang Li Group Source: Xinhua

Source: Author: Liao Qin, Liberation Daily