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South Korea’s ‘key partner’ China barely gets a mention in Seoul’s new Indo-Pacific strategy

  • The 43-page document released on Wednesday, which Washington later praised, reserved just one paragraph for Seoul’s relations with China
  • But it did call for the resumption of a three-way summit with Japan and China last held in 2019, and plans to ‘gradually expand’ Quad cooperation

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Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol when they met on the sidelines of last month’s G20 summit in Indonesia. Photo: Xinhua
South Korea put out its first strategy report for the Indo-Pacific region, which hardly mentions China and signals Seoul is seeking a cautious balance between its biggest trade partner Beijing and main military ally, the US.
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The 43-page document released on Wednesday and titled the “Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region,” issued a single paragraph about relations with China.

Beijing was called a “key partner” and the report said Seoul “will nurture a sounder and more mature relationship as we pursue shared interests based on mutual respect and reciprocity, guided by international norms and rules.”

US President Joe Biden (left) visits a Samsung facility in South Korea with Yoon in May. Biden’s administration has pressured Yoon’s government to curb chip exports to China. Photo: EPA-EFE
US President Joe Biden (left) visits a Samsung facility in South Korea with Yoon in May. Biden’s administration has pressured Yoon’s government to curb chip exports to China. Photo: EPA-EFE
President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government has come under pressure from Washington to comply with the Biden administration’s sweeping curbs on the sale of advanced chips to China, where major South Korean semiconductor makers have facilities.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met Yoon last month seeking hi-tech cooperation and called for accelerating negotiations on a trade deal.
The United States welcomed Wednesday’s strategy report from Seoul with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan saying in a statement that it “will strengthen our shared ability to advance international peace, security, and promote nuclear non-proliferation.”

Yoon came into office in May pledging to take a tough line on China and has since stepped up security cooperation with the US. But his administration has not offered its full-throated support for Biden’s initiative on chips.
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