Park Geun-Hye Archives - Nautilus Institute for Security and SustainabilityNautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

South Korea can get more than symbols from Beijing, Peter Hayes, Global Times

Peter Hayes writes: Whether South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s “trustpolitik” is merely a slogan or a solid policy strategy will be revealed during her visit to China starting on Thursday.

Superficially, the combined US and North Korean hard lines leave little space for Park to obtain more from China than a similar joint statement to that issued by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama at their recent summit.

Although useful to Park for domestic consumption, a joint statement that a nuclear-armed North Korea is not acceptable will do nothing to resolve the fundamental nuclear problem with North Korea.

Park Geun-Hye’s China Challenge

Is it possible for President Park to get China to commit to more than a symbolic statement regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapons program during her upcoming meeting with President Xi Jinping? According to Peter Hayes, “The answer is definitely yes. South Korea can propose at least three types of “three party talks” at the Summit that would put South Korea in the driver’s seat, and break the deadlock with North Korea. These are all consistent with the eventual resumption of the Six Party Talks, although they do not depend upon this happening to have positive effects.” He goes on to state that, “At this juncture, only President Park can provide the necessary leadership to move this agenda forward.”

Peter Hayes is the Executive Director of the Nautilus Institute and a Professor at RMIT University.

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