A Research On Park Geun-hye’s Policy Toward China During Her Administration

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and ROK,the relations between the two countries have achieved tremendous development in the fields of politics,economy and culture.At the beginning of 2013,Park Geun-hye came to power.She implemented the friendly policy toward China,and put forward the slogan of "trust diplomacy" in a clear-cut stand.Sino-ROK strategic partnership has been continuously enriched and developed since then.Sino-ROK relations had even been evaluated as "the best in history".However,due to the fourth nuclear experiment of DPRK on January 6,2016,having disappointed to communicating with China,Park Geun-hye turned to ask for the help to the United States and agreed to deploy "THAAD" with the United States in ROK,resulting in serious damage to Sino-ROK relations.This major change has also made Park Geun-hye’s policy toward China totally different assessments by all sides in the international community.This article first briefly reviews the domestic and international situation when Park Geun-hye was elected president of ROK,the content of Park Geun-hye’s policy toward China under this situation,and the change of ROK’s policy toward China after the fourth nuclear experiment in DPRK.The factors affecting Park Geun-hye’s policies towards China include American factors,China factors,DPRK factors,Park Geun-hye’s personal factors and so on.Among them,The US factor is particularly critical.Finally,the article evaluates overall of Park’s Policy toward China during her administration.This research believes that during the four years of Park Geun-hye’s administration,Sino-ROK relations showed the "the amalgamation of ice and fire" with DPRK’s fourth nuclear experiment and the subsequent "THAAD incident" as the dividing line.The key reason that Sino-ROK relations changed so clear was lies in the deployment of “THAAD”.On the one hand,we must see that the deployment of “THAAD” had indeed had a tremendous negative impact in Sino-ROK relations,but on the other hand,we must recognize that the deployment of "THAAD" is a forced but not rational choice by Park Geun-hye administration.Throughout the four years of Park Geun-hye’s administration,although Sino-Korean relations once reached the highest level in history at the beginning of his administration,in less than a year,Sino-ROK relations fell into the bottom because of "THAAD".It can be seen that Sino-ROK relations are extremely fragile,and the most critical factor is the United States.The study found that there has always been a "ceiling" in the development of Sino-ROK relations,that is,the existence of the ROK-U.S alliance,and ROK’s Policy toward China is implemented on the basis of not damaging the ROK-U.S.alliance.For the foreseeable future,the US factor will always be the cornerstone of ROK’s foreign policy.