China, South Korea, and the Socotra Rock Dispute by Senan Fox

Author:Senan Fox
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811320774
Publisher: Springer Singapore

As with similar incidents which have increased in frequency since 2003, the March 2012 event reflected the delicate balancing act which both states must perform for the benefit of its domestic audience, as well as its rivalry for Socotra Rock. It also shows how relations vis-à-vis Socotra Rock can fluctuate from positive to negative and vice versa within relatively short time periods. During President Park Geun-hye’s7 term, for example, bilateral relations markedly improved,8 but Socotra Rock-related tensions still threatened to upset ties. Early June 2013 saw the two neighbors commit to intensifying efforts to conclude a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).9 Park’s first Korea-China summit (in Beijing) in late June of that same year produced a joint communiqué where Beijing and Seoul committed themselves to enhancing their ties in numerous areas, including fisheries, and to cooperating on security issues, most notably the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula (“President Park holds 1st”, 28/06/2013). The two leaders also committed themselves to making the Yellow Sea ‘a sea of peaceful cooperation and friendship’ (“S. Korea-China maritime border”, 23/12/2015). Park’s removal from office in the midst of a scandal investigation in March 2017 had no tangible impact on the Socotra Rock dispute, although the affair reminded observers of the fragility and vagaries of domestic politics in the ROK and the difficulties associated with maintaining a stable bilateral approach to this issue. One additional difficulty in maintaining this stability involved China’s controversial declaration of their Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in late 2013. South Korea’s careful balancing act involved reasserting its jurisdiction and sovereignty while avoiding escalation, a remarkable effort expanded on in the next chapter.

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