Research On The Behavior And Strategy Of South Korea In Face Of U.S.’s Inducement In The Context Of Sino-U.S.Strategic Competition

Since 2017,the strategic competition between China and the United States has been intensifying.As a significant ally of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region,South Korea’s importance to the United States has been further highlighted.The United States has induced South Korea in multiple dimensions to build a strong anti-China alliance.The US is not only actively promoting the economic system binding with the ROK in the supply chain field,attracting the ROK to join the multilateral anti-China strategy,mechanism and dialogue platform,but also putting pressure on the ROK to promote the deployment of the "anti-missile" system in the ROK,and trying to attract the ROK to cooperate with its own anti-China efforts by untying the development of the ROK’s independent national defense.During the Trump administration,the United States emphasized South Korea’s obligation to the United States and highlighted the imbalance in the U.S.-South Korea relationship in the process of inducing South Korea.However,the United States was also reluctant to intervene the disputes between Japan and South Korea,and even sacrificed the stability and cohesion of the alliance for greater interests.In contrast,the Biden administration focused on the reconciliation of the interests of the two countries in the process of inducing the ROK,actively promoted the trilateral interaction between the US,Japan and the ROK,strengthened the strategic binding between the US and the ROK,supported the security demands of the ROK to a certain extent,and highlighted the value of the ROK to the USIn the face of the U.S.actively inducing,the progressive Moon Jae-in administration pursued a balanced diplomacy,trying to minimize the anti-China meaning in its diplomatic behavior and emphasizing the pursuit of strategic independence of the country,while avoiding completely turning to the U.S..While the conservative leader Yoon Suk-yeol responded positively to the United States’ inducing after taking office,and his participation in the anti-China coalition of the United States was further deepened.Under the background of administration change from Moon Jae-in to Yoon Suk-yeol,South Korea gradually shifted from negative prevarication to positive response to the inducing of the United States.While striving to maintain its own strategic independence,South Korea strengthened the degree of strategic adherence to the United States.Meanwhile,it gradually emphasized the values of freedom,democracy and human rights from focusing on pragmatic diplomacy.In terms of Japan-South Korea relations,the ROK has instead responded positively to the US efforts to mediate Japan-South Korea relations,downplayed the Japan-South Korea differences and showed its willingness to improve relations.This paper argues that the different attitudes of the two South Korean governments in dealing with the inducement of the United States are not only closely related to the policy intensity of the United States’ inducing policy,but also influenced by the common interests between China and South Korea,South Korea’s strategic needs to China and South Korea’s domestic political factors.