54. Be careful of Japan-S.Korea alliance

Be careful of Japan-S.Korea alliance

Global Times
[02:05 August 24 2010]


While China and South Korea have shown some concern over the US-South Korean military exercises lately, Japan has been extending its hand to its long-time rival, South Korea, this month.

In a formal apology to South Koreans for Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan also said the two countries share many values, and called for a new Japan-South Korea partnership aimed at dealing with North Korea and an increasingly powerful China, a Kyodo News Agency report on Saturday quoted a government source as saying.
The words immediately sent chills to Chinese people, reminding them of the Cold War era when Northeast Asia was divided by two triangles, the China- Soviet Union-North Korea triangle versus the US-Japan-South Korea triangle - the line of division almost cut off all communication between the two blocs.
However, the fact is, today's Northeast Asia is no longer the one of the past. Russia is no longer the Soviet Union, and China is no longer a closed impoverished land. Instead, China has become the largest trading partner of both Japan and South Korea. About 1 million South Koreans are living in China, and more than 10,000 Japanese visit China on a daily basis.
Although history or sovereignty frictions arise from time to time, the three countries have not seriously been involved in a strategic confrontation for a long time.
The notion that Japan and South Korea will join hands to confront China and North Korea is an extremely dangerous setback in Northeast Asian relations.
We hope this provocative call is a misunderstanding by the Kyodo News, or perhaps it is only a Japanese government official's singular idea, which is far from becoming real national policy.
But the news does give some insight about the Kan administration's intent to ally with South Korea in the face of an imagined threat from China and North Korea. In reality, the plan is unlikely to work.
One of the reasons for failure would be the two Koreas' inseparable tie that would most likely not stand the strain of interference of their common enemy during WWII.
The three countries rank as Asia's top, second, and fourth largest economies and have long been tied together economically and culturally. It is hard to lose any one of the three, whose GDP together account for 70 percent of Asia's total.
It is not a bad thing for Japan and South Korea to become closer. But the two countries should be clear that they are not able to really contain China.
China, on the other hand, needs to understand the two neighbors' anxiety over its rising power. Only by closer contact with the two countries can China win their trust, and prevent any missteps from misunderstandings.
The Japanese administration may need to learn a simple lesson: Do not make another enemy when trying to befriend a neighbor.