China’s worthy project

Korea should stay involved in new Silk Road plan

Korea should stay involved in China’s “One Belt and One Road” project that will encompass more than 50 countries and account for 40 percent of the world’s combined gross domestic product.

Seoul participated in the just-ended two-day summit hosted by Xi Jinping. Over 130 countries sent delegations. Originally, it was not invited, obviously because of the dispute over the deployment of a U.S. missile interceptor battery here.

Most of the western, developed world criticized it for a variety of reasons but much of their criticism should be regarded as sour grapes. They argue that the project is intended to revive old China’s reign as a colonial superpower and an attempt to edge out the United States in their contest for regional hegemony.

Such claims indeed make sense because of the project’s enormous size. Also true is their observation that Xi is using the project to vitalize China’s stagnant economy. As a matter of fact, western countries’ heads of state boycotted the summit with autocratic Turkish President Erdogan and Russian President Putin on hand together with leaders of global organizations.

As a democracy that shares values with these western countries, Korea should take this concern to heart. Beijing has employed its old narrow-minded colonial style, harassing Korean firms and stopping Chinese people from traveling to Korea in retaliation for the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery.

However, newly elected President Moon Jae-in finds himself in a better position than his predecessor, the U.S.-oriented Park Geun-hye, to reason with Beijing and normalize bilateral ties.

For Korea, the lure of the new Silk Road is too big to pass up.

The project can easily grow to be the world’s biggest infrastructure project because the states along the route are landlocked with their access to the outside in dire need of improving. A potential for extra trade volume from the region once their roads make access easier could be enormous.

Because of its location on the eastern tip of the Asian continent, Korea may serve as terminus for goods delivered to its ports shipped from the Americas and Oceania. This economic factor can be an added impetus for the unification of the divided Korean Peninsula.

That may sound far-fetched now but considering there are few effective ways of blocking North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, fruits Pyongyang is certain to gain in the event of its participation can be a powerful reason for it to try and become a nuclear-free normal state. The North took part in the summit.

Already, many western companies are jockeying for a better position to reap big contracts from the project in contrast to their government’s vapid responses. Korean firms should prepare themselves to ensure they get a piece of action.