Jeju Peace Institute

KIM Heung-kyu(Director, Institute for China Policy Studies at Ajou University)

China’s diplomacy is currently undergoing a paradigm shift. It is important to note the shift in the country’s sense of its identity from the world’s largest developing country to a power in the process of development or from a continental country to a continental-marine country. Armed with this new sense of identity, China is implementing a new strategy concerning the Korean Peninsula from the perspective of normal inter-country relations. China has reappraised the level of North Korea’s nuclear capability and adopted a new attitude concerning its negative impact, and has consequently expressed a stronger than ever commitment to non-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean government should maintain its current strategy of alliance with the US and reconciliation with China, while considering a more nuanced strategy of alliance with the U.S. and collaboration with China.