Korea's Future: Peking's Perspective

Abstract

CHINA HAS A larger stake in Korean question than any of other major powers involved. Historically, outcome of each of three wars that big powers fought over Korea in last century has had a profound impact on fate of China. China's defeat in 1894 Sino-Japanese war revealed its structural weakness and thereby precipitated slicing of Chinese melon by foreign powers. The Russo-Japanese war eliminated Tsarist Russia as an effective Pacific power. Victorious in two wars, Japan proceeded to colonize Korea and then to expand its influence deep into mainland. The Japanese encroachment on Chinese territory decisively affected Chinese domestic political struggles; it twice deprived Chiang Kai-shek of opportunity to eliminate his Communist rivals and gave rise to peasant nationalism that Chinese communists successfully utilized in their bid for power. Almost a half century later, outcome of World War II brought into existence a new power configuration in Far East. The Soviet Union emerged as a super power, the Chinese people stand up under Communist rule, Korea was divided, and Japan was eliminated as an effective power. When United Nations forces approached Yalu River during Korean War, newly established Peking regime decided to confront directly most powerful nation in world. The decision was a risky gamble, despite Soviet Union's backing and Cold War situation. A miscalculation would have wiped out what Chinese Communists had sought to achieve for more than three decades. The stalemate in Korean war was actually a victory in eyes of Chinese, since it safeguarded fatherland from aggression of US imperialists. China, however, paid a high price for its involvement in Korean war; it lost opportunity to liberate Taiwan, and was denied diplomatic recognition by a large segment of international community.