Regional integration: Japan and South Korea in America's Asian policy

Abstract

Ever since the late 1940s, U.S. Asian policy sought to use the southern half of the Korean peninsula and Japan to create a configuration of military and economic power which would enable the United States to contain the might of both China and the Soviet Union, while simultaneously insuring its own hegemony over Pacific-Asia. This basic strategy, which may be termed the regional integration of U.S. imperialism, turned on making industrialized Japan dependent on the U.S., and economically backward South Korea dependent, ultimately, on Japan. Its psychological roots lay in a traditional, shared Japanese-American ruling class attitude of contempt for the Koreans and the other formerly colonized peoples of Asia. If Theodore Roosevelt exemplified such an outlook early in this century, John Foster Dulles was its exemplar by the middle of the century. Dulles's first memorandum on Japan, dated June 6, 1950, and summarized by Frederick Dunn, stated that “… it might be possible to capitalize on the Japanese feeling of racial and social superiority to the Chinese, Koreans and Russians, and to convince them that as part of the free world they would be in equal fellowship with a group which is superior to the members of the Communist world.”     

South Korea and China's Security Objectives in East Asia

This article explores how South Korea relates to China's national security objectives in East Asia. Specifically, it argues that for China, the strategic value of South Korea lies in coping with the strong position of the US in East Asia. Moreover, South Korea's stance on the North Korean nuclear issue is closer to China's, compared with that of the US.     

Environmental Security and New Middle Powers: The Case of South Korea

This article considers the role of new middle powers in the climate change debate. We focus on the issue of “green growth.” We argue that new middle powers such as South Korea are increasingly proactive in promoting this green growth agenda and, as a result, challenging conventional realist and liberal approaches and expectations to new middle powers. This diplomacy is aiming to bridge states, great and small, by leading to strategic breakthroughs in the current climate change negotiation deadlock. The article discusses South Korea’s green growth initiative and identifies how this initiative affects South Korea’s middle power role in the global environmental debate with respect to its inclusion in the Environment Integrity Group and its initiative the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).     

韩国与越南:伙伴关系的缘起与前景

本文旨在回顾越南与韩国关系发展进程的基础上,分析推动双边关系发展的原因及前景.学术界对韩国参加越战一事多有论述,而疏于分析建交以来的双边关系.越南与韩国作为中国的两个重要邻国,研究二者的关系具有重要的现实意义.本文首先回顾两国间的历史渊源与对抗的情况,之后重点论述建交后的双边政治、经济等领域关系的快速发展,最后分析促进双边关系发展的若干因素以及前景.     

中日韩三国的战略信赖度分析

本文以战略互信理论为主要依据,探讨了中日韩三国的战略定位,并在尝试建立中日韩三国战略互信度模型的基础上,对影响中日韩三国战略互信关系的主要因素进行了较为系统的分析,并指出构筑和进一步建立中日韩三国稳定的战略互信关系,是东北亚多边安全机制构建的核心和基础。     

Pursuing Post-democratisation: The Resilience of Politics by Public Security in Contemporary South Korea

This article analyses the disputed election of President Park Geun-hye and her administration’s confrontation of left-nationalist politicians and other social movements during her first year in office. We argue that the Park administration’s policies resonate with contemporary discussions of “post-democratisation,” a process whereby social rights are increasingly subordinated to market logics and state power insulated from popular challenges. Under the conservative governments of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, this process has been animated by a mode of confrontation known in South Korea as “politics by public security.” This politics targets social conflict and political dissent as threats to national security and has involved both illegal interventions by state institutions – such as the 2012 electoral interference by state agencies including the National Intelligence Service – and a cultural politics that affirms but revises the narrative of Korean democratisation by obfuscating the nature of the democracy movement and by attempting to restore the honour of conservative forces associated with former dictatorships. In order to better understand this conjuncture, we explore its origin within a tacit alliance between both former public security prosecutors-cum-conservative politicians and a movement of conservative intellectuals known as the New Right.     

Social Movement Tradition and the Role of Civil Society in Japan and South Korea

In 1947, Japan became the first East Asian country to introduce democracy, and it was not until four decades later that South Korea completed the democratic transition. Today, surprisingly, South Korea stands out among the East Asian countries as the one that has the most vibrant and politically powerful civil society, whereas in Japan, the role of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) sector in political advocacy is greatly limited. Using historical institutionalism, this paper tries to explain why the NGOs in South Korea and Japan play vastly different roles in political advocacy. It concludes that the different social movement traditions have played important roles in the evolution of the civil societies in Japan and South Korea, and led to the different levels of institutionalization within the NGO sector.     

中韩自贸区建设及其对吉韩合作的影响

自2012年5月启动自由贸易协定谈判以来,中韩两国在30个月的时间里进行了14轮谈判,目前已草签协定文本,两国将于年内正式签署协定并予以生效。中韩两国之所以能在较短的时间里达成如此高水平的自贸协定,与其各自的自贸区战略密切相关。中国自贸区战略的目的是通过积极推进自由贸易区建设,加强同合作伙伴的相互依存关系,配合我国全方位和平外交战略的推进;韩国自贸区战略的目标是通过与主要国家和地区相互取消关税等贸易壁垒,作为包括海外企业在内的生产基地,成为全球"自由贸易轴心"。中韩间现已形成全方位、深层次、互利共赢的良好发展格局。与国家间贸易快速增长形成对比的是,进入21世纪后吉林省与韩国的贸易额一直在5亿~7亿美元区间波动。中韩自贸协定的达成,对于吉林省而言,可谓机遇与挑战并存。     

Security implications of economic and political nationalism in the United States and South Korea

The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not represent the position of any U.S. government agency.     

美韩关系中的驻韩美军地位问题

驻韩美军是影响美韩同盟关系的关键因素之一,而作为规范美军法律地位的《驻韩美军地位协定》则是美韩双方争论的焦点问题。围绕军队地位协定谈判,美韩双方的交涉持续了十几年时间,最终,随着韩国在美韩同盟关系中地位的提升,美国同韩国达成妥协,签订了军队地位协定。军队地位协定的谈判过程,一方面反映出韩国在美韩同盟中地位的变化,同时显示美国同韩国签订军队地位协定存在争取韩国支持其越南战争政策的政治目的。冷战结束后,《驻韩美军地位协定》凸显出的不平等性,引起了韩国民众强烈的反美情绪,给关韩同盟关系带来重要影响。     

韩国-东盟FTA对中国农产品出口韩国的影响分析

对中国与东盟农产品出口韩国的产品相似性指数及国别比较优势指数进行测算的结果表明,双方相似性较高,竞争也较激烈.但对中国与东盟农产品的价格竞争力在韩国-东盟FTA全面生效前后的变化进行比较分析的结果表明,韩国-东盟FTA对中国农产品出口韩国的影响很小.其原因有二:一是韩国-东盟FTA中韩国的农产品开放度较低;二是东盟供给能力有限,即使享受FTA特惠税率而拥有明显的价格优势,其出口也很难完全替代中国.     

Trilateral trade relations among China,Japan and South Korea: Challenges and prospects of regional economic integration

China’s emergence as a global and regional manufacturing center has significant implications for the Northeast Asian economies of Japan and South Korea. China's trade with Japan and South Korea has been rapidly growing in relative importance, largely facilitated by China's rise as a regional production base as well as changes in the trade structures between China and her neighbours. Indeed, in recent years, China has been the main driving force behind Northeast Asian trade interdependency. The strong economic linkages and complementarities among China, Japan and South Korea augur well for the further integration among the three Northeast Asian countries. Establishing a trilateral free trade arrangement (FTA) provide new opportunities to enhance the three countries’ overall growth potential through trade and investment. However, such Northeast Asian regional integration is destined to be a long, drawn out process. The forging of a trilateral trading arrangement between China and her two neighbours remain a long term vision in view of the many outstanding issues and obstacles.     

当前韩中文化外交存在的问题及对策

自韩中两国建交以来,韩中两国文化外交取得了巨大的成就。但是时至今日,韩中两国的文化外交也受到诸多制约因素的挑战,本文针对当前韩中文化外交存在的主要问题以及这些问题背后的深层根源进行了分析,并提出了具有针对性的建议,作者认为韩中两国应该从战略高度积极协调双方文化外交,并且要妥善处理历史认知问题和重新审视两国的大众传播媒体在塑造和服务于韩中文化外交过程中所扮演的角色,同时韩国政府要积极改善韩中两国文化产品输入不对等的问题。两国政府和民间要进一步拓宽两国民间外交的渠道和方式,进而全面提升韩中文化外交全面向前发展。     

试论韩国外交决策影响因素的变动趋势

对于韩国外交决策的研究,中国学界主要关注国际因素与总统个人因素对外交决策的影响。实际上,韩国的外部环境转变以及国内各领域的结构性变化促使外交决策中各种因素的影响力此消彼长,即国际因素与总统个人因素的影响力相对下降,而其他国内因素的影响力则逐步上升,尤其是官僚组织在外交决策中扮演的角色愈加重要。本文以韩国官僚组织的形成与特征为切入点,探讨官僚组织在韩国外交决策中影响力逐渐增强的原因。     

Hedging Strategies of the Middle Powers in East Asian Security: the Cases of South Korea and Malaysia

Many middle powers in East Asia—particularly South Korea and Malaysia—are affected by the strategic relationship between the USA (hereafter the USA) and China. Therefore, I would like to examine the strategic behaviors of the middle powers in East Asia from a hedging strategy perspective. The hedging strategy extends the logic of the traditional balance of power theory while maintaining a strong emphasis on structural incentives, which critics have found lacking in the soft balance approach. Most East Asian states have calibrated their security measures and strategies in response to the changing US-China relationship. The purpose of this article is to compare the hedging strategies of South Korea and Malaysia, which are middle powers, that affect the East Asian security order. This article, thus, aims not simply to explain specific instances of the hedging strategies of middle powers but also, based on this theoretical foundation, to establish a new frame of analysis for the hedging strategies of middle powers through objective and critical assessment.     

Dominant Party Adaptation to the Catch-All Model: a Comparison of Former Dominant Parties in Japan and South Korea

In the process of democratisation, it is expected that a former dominant party, at least one which abides by the rules of electoral contestation, will transition into a “catch-all” party. A catch-all party aims to attract the votes of all social cleavages and classes of voters outside what would be considered their traditional voter base. As part of the wider debate about democratisation in East Asia, this paper examines how two of East Asia’s liberal democracies—Japan and South Korea, the LDP and GNP/Saenuri, respectively, have adapted to electoral defeat and in what ways they have transitioned into catch-all parties in the Kircheimer mould. This paper finds that while intra-party reforms which could fit a catch-all model have yet to be institutionalised, data from the Comparative Manifesto Database shows that there has been a significant change in which policies both parties promote and that these are designed to appeal to a broad base of voters.     

Globalization and Divergent Paths of Industrial Development: Mobile Phone Manufacturing in China,Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

Globalisation has challenged the way industrial development takes place. Fragmented and decentralised global production and the rapid growth of consumer markets in emerging economies demand a more sophisticated framework to analyse development paths than does the dichotomy of export orientation and import substitution. This article proposes a typology based on (a) specialisation in the global value chain and (b) market orientation to distinguish different development trajectories and then applies the typology to mobile phone manufacturing in four East Asian countries. This study finds that globalisation does not lead to the convergence of development paths, but promotes cross-national divergence depending on countries’ positions in the value chain and market niches. Both Korea and Taiwan emerge as key players in global markets, yet in different parts of the global value chain. Their common orientation toward global markets strikingly contrasts the inability of Japanese firms to translate their domestic success overseas. Finally, Chinese firms concurrently engage in different development paths, making the country’s multi-path approach unique. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of industrial development in East Asia in an era of globalisation.