South Korea’s Hedging toward South Korea-United States-China Trilateral Dynamics

Abstract

초록·키워드 목차 오류제보하기 Despite increasing domestic and international pressure to choose between the US Indo-Pacific Strategy and China"s Belt and Road Initiative, South Korea is still not officially participating in either of the two countries’ core strategies. Instead, South Korea introduced a neutral policy called the New Southern Policy. Through the New Southern Policy, South Korea has been encouraging participation by strategic functions in areas that have a common interest between South Korea, the United States, and China, and has been promoting and reinforcing cooperation with the two superpowers simultaneously. This ambiguous strategy taken by South Korea is a typical hedging strategy that the weaker state takes against the competing two great powers while maintaining a certain distance from the fierce competition between them. This shows that a hedging strategy asserted in the balance of power theory is valid in explaining the strategic actions South Korea is taking in relation to the fierce US-China competition in the Indo-Pacific region of the 21st century. #South Korea #United States #China #Indo-Pacific Strategy #Belt and Road Initiative AbstractⅠ. IntroductionⅡ. Theory ReviewⅢ. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) vs. United States Indo-Pacific StrategyⅣ. South Korea’s HedgingⅤ. ConclusionReferences