South Korea’s ‘overwhelming pro-US’ Pacific tilt triggers alarm in China: ‘this could become a nightmare’

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s Pacific overtures reflect his desire for South Korea to become a ‘global pivotal state’ with a ‘bold’ foreign policy

But the move further into the US’ strategic orbit has angered Beijing, which has warned Seoul against making a ‘wrong bet’ in the US-China rivalry

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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (right) shakes hands with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown during a dinner party for the Korea-Pacific Islands Summit at a Seoul hotel last month. Photo: South Korean Presidential Office /EPA-EFE

Maria Siow

Published: 9:30am, 17 Jun 2023

South Korea’s recent summit with Pacific island nations reflects its wider strategy of becoming a “global pivotal state” with a more expansive role beyond East Asia, even as analysts warn that its apparent tilt towards the United States risks a collision with China.

The two-day inaugural Korea-Pacific Islands summit held in Seoul last month saw agreements on expanding cooperation in economic development, security and responding to climate change.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to strengthen “tailored” support for each Pacific island state while making it clear that Seoul respected the independence and sovereignty of all countries and the rules-based international order, according to presidential spokesman Lee Do-woon.

South Korea also said it would double the scale of its development assistance to the Pacific region to US$39.9 million by 2027, the Yonhap news agency reported. Yoon met the leaders of the Cook Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Niue and Palau, and also held summits with the heads of five other Pacific island nations.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (front, centre) and his wife, Kim Keon-hee (third from right, front row), with leaders of the Pacific islands and their spouses during a dinner party for the Korea-Pacific Islands Summit in Seoul last month. Photo: South Korean Presidential Office/EPA-EFE

Peter Lee, a research fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre, said Seoul’s growing engagement with the Pacific region reflected its desire to take a more expansive role and realise its aspirations of becoming a “global pivotal state”.

“South Korea recognises that it can make a modest but nonetheless important contribution to the Pacific islands together with traditional partners like the United States and Australia,” Lee said, noting that Yoon’s predecessor did not focus on the Pacific. “So this is a region where the Yoon administration can differentiate itself with new ideas and cooperation.”