Yoon signals shift from ambiguity in US-China rivalry
South Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy unveiled
President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday reiterated that “changing the status quo by force” is not acceptable, a stance he emphasized earlier during a speech to his summit with the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit while unveiling South Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.
By singling out countries like Russia and Myanmar, the South Korean president said during a speech at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia’s capital that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violates international law and voiced worries about what he called the retreat of democracy in Myanmar after a military coup last year.
He didn’t spare criticism for China, either, albeit indirectly. He said the South China Sea should be a sea of peace and prosperity and stressed freedom of navigation should be guaranteed, adding any actions that could escalate tensions there should be refrained.
He made the remarks which are in line with the U.S. government’s longstanding position on the sea, amid a territory dispute between China and Southeast Asian countries.
Yoon unveiled his Indo-Pacific strategy last Friday, highlighting the country’s pursuit of freedom, peace and prosperity in the region based on a rules-based order under the three principles of inclusivity, trust and reciprocity.
With Yoon’s diplomatic initiative to join the U.S.-led effort to contain China, some experts say South Korea will bid farewell to its longstanding diplomatic position on the U.S.-China rivalry, which has been described as strategic ambiguity.
During the Korea-ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the president said Korea’s new Indo-Pacific strategy promotes peaceful resolution through dialogue, as peace and stability in the region are related directly to the country’s survival and prosperity.
“We live in an era of the Indo-Pacific region. The region accounts for 65 percent of the world population and 60 percent of the GDP,” he said.
Yoon stated that South Korea will try to strengthen the rules-based international order, which is also based on universal values.
“Any unilateral change in the status quo by force should never be tolerated,” he added.
His remarks came amid escalating tensions in cross-strait relations following the confirmation of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s third term and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
South Korea’s plan to draw up its Indo-Pacific strategy was made public in May during President Yoon’s summit with U.S. President Joe Biden. In a joint statement released after the summit, Biden shared his support for Yoon’s initiative to formulate South Korea’s own Indo-Pacific strategy framework.
“The two presidents commit to cooperate closely through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, based on the principles of openness, transparency and inclusiveness,” it read.
The presidential office said a specific roadmap to the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region will be unveiled later, as related Cabinet ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are currently working on it.
National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han explained that Yoon’s Indo-Pacific strategy is South Korea’s first-ever comprehensive regional strategy, broadening the country’s
diplomatic perspective, during a press briefing, Saturday.
Kim said the Yoon administration is the first Korean government to affirm that the key elements of Korea’s foreign policy are upholding universal values such as freedom, human rights and the rule of law.
However, he also noted that does not mean that Korea excludes or condemns countries that do not share these values.
“We will cooperate for common interests with an open mind, but we will react resolutely against attempts to harm the universal values,” Kim explained.
Kim’s remarks came after speculations that Korea’s Indo-Pacific strategy is aligned with the United States’ efforts to keep China in check.
A high-ranking official at the presidential office said that the remarks on the status quo do not target a certain country but should be interpreted in generalities.
“Whether it is the U.S. or China, Korea needs to spread risks and the strategy could be interpreted as not putting all its eggs in one basket,” the official said.
The official added that it is time to view the ASEAN region from a broader perspective incorporating politics, diplomacy, development and economy, as ASEAN has become a field of competition between the U.S. and China.
The previous Moon Jae-in administration’s New Southern Policy centered on economic cooperation, but the new strategy diversifies Korea’s approach to the region.
“It is not a matter of a complete scrapping of the previous policy or not, but we will inherit the good part and complement the insufficient part,” Kim said.
Wi Sung-lac, South Korea’s former ambassador to Russia, said President Yoon’s unveiling of the nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy signaled South Korea’s leaning toward the United States amid the deepening U.S.-China rivalry.
For this reason, he said the strategy will certainly generate diplomatic gains and losses for Seoul’s diplomacy afterwards.
Wi said the Indo-Pacific strategy signals South Korea’s de facto departure from its longstanding diplomatic posture of strategic ambiguity in the U.S.-China rivalry.
In the past, he said, South Korea had no principled policy toward the U.S.-China rivalry and its stance was based on strategic ambiguity. So South Korea did not act consistently, he said. According to him, President Yoon’s Indo-Pacific strategy means that South Korea will end that practice of strategic ambiguity.
“My impression is that what the government said in its Indo-Pacific strategy is a little bit too much,” he told The Korea Times.
“It’s apparent that South Korea is not a hegemonic state in the region. When I looked at the statement, I felt that what was said is a little too big, bigger than how South Korea is viewed and perceived by other nations.”
When asked if there would be any differences in South Korea’s diplomatic foothold in the region before and after the Indo-Pacific strategy, Wi responded negatively.
“Among the ASEAN nations, China and Japan are influential states. Compared to them, South Korea’s influence in the region is limited,” he said.
He went on to say that drawing support from the ASEAN nations over North Korea is also challenging. “It’s true that ASEAN forms a unity, but internally it’s difficult to draw a consensus because each nation has very different stances on certain issues. For example, countries like Cambodia and Myanmar are close to North Korea,” he said. Yoon stepped up bilateral and multilateral diplomacy with other nations on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Cambodia.