Ahead of South Korea’s presidential election in March 2022, Seoul’s balancing act between China and the United States has taken on a distinctly partisan dimension.
The South Korean left has openly favoured Seoul’s so-called ‘strategic ambiguity’, asserting that neither Beijing nor Washington have any claim to use South Korean partnership to advance their great power geopolitical designs. South Korean conservatives, in contrast, are more inclined to criticise China in a manner consistent with the liberal international order, even as trade with China comprises a significant portion of South Korea’s export-oriented economy.
South Korea’s growing partisanship over relations with the United States | East Asia Forum
