By Jun Ji-hye
Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate, said Thursday that
if elected she would seek balanced diplomacy between the United States and China.
The 60-year-old conservative said such an approach was necessary to overcome various conflicts including territorial disputes that have plagued Northeast Asia, and to promote peace and economic cooperation in the region.
“Relations between the U.S. and China are unique. The U.S. has attempted to strengthen its presence in Northeast Asia, while China has risen rapidly,” she said at a meeting with foreign press at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
In her remarks, the daughter of the late
President Park Chung-hee stressed that harmonious relations between the U.S. and China were essential to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula as well as in Northeast Asia.
“We don’t need to view the two countries’ relations as a zero-sum game. I believe President Barack Obama, who was successfully re-elected, and China, which is going to establish its new leadership soon, will spare no effort to set up cooperative relations,” she said.
The ruling party’s standard bearer vowed to deepen ties with both members of the world’s top two economies. Seoul has a mutual strategic cooperative partnership with Beijing, while Washington is a close ally.
But China’s rapid economic rise and its growing assertiveness over maritime territory; coupled with Washington’s security pivot toward Asia have raised the question of how Seoul plans to approach the two.
All three leading candidates for the presidency have indicated that boosting relations with China will be a key task after President Lee Myung-bak focused his attention on the U.S.
Park and her opponents, Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party and liberal independent *** Cheol-soo, have also expressed interest in rekindling cooperation with North Korea, an effort that may benefit from China’s support.
Her comments came during a time of intensified regional tension. China and Japan are trading barbs over a disputed archipelago and nuclear North Korea remains enigmatic.
She also called for a need to expand Seoul’s strategic partnership with ASEAN. The grouping of 10 Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines, Malaysia,
Singapore and Indonesia is Korea’s second-largest trade partner after China.
Meanwhile, following Obama’s reelection, the ruling party released a congratulatory statement, Wednesday.
It said, “We are looking forward to him leading the joint prosperity of the world with his integrated leadership. If elected, Park’s administration will reinforce its partnership with the U.S. based on mutual trust.”
Moon and *** also sent their congratulations.
Park’s communications chief, Lee Jung-hyun, sought to connect Obama’s reelection to Park’s attempt to make history. “I think, as America’s first black president reflected the nation’s will for change, Korea’s first female president will reflect political reform.”
“I believe Korean voters will choose true change on Dec. 19, as American voters did,” he added.
jjh@koreatimes.co.kr,
