New Report Shows How U.S.-China Tensions Exacerbate the Security Crisis in Korea
October 20, 2022
Posted in: Press Releases
DATE: October 20, 2022
A new report, U.S.-China Competition and the Korean Peninsula: From Confrontation to Peacebuilding, shows how the Korean Peninsula has become the fault line for rising U.S.-China tensions. Released by Women Cross DMZ, the report argues that peacebuilding in Korea offers a much-needed opportunity for U.S.-China cooperation, which would help to reduce tensions, build trust, and, most crucially, avoid a possible war.
“With tensions running dangerously high on the Korean Peninsula, it is urgent that the Biden administration take a proactive approach through peaceful diplomacy,” said Christine Ahn, Executive Director of Women Cross DMZ. “This report shows that cooperating with China to officially end the Korean War would go a long way toward building a more peaceful and stable Northeast Asia.”
“China’s growing influence and Washington’s efforts to contain that influence through assembling an anti-China alliance in East Asia are promoting the relentless militarisation of the region,” said Kevin Gray, Professor in International Relations at the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex and leading editor of the report. “This zero-sum competition between the two countries is also having highly negative implications for peace on the Korean Peninsula. However, tackling the seven-decade long unended war in Korea will conversely provide an opportunity for Washington and Beijing to establish areas of cooperation between the two countries while limiting the potential of war in the region.”
“South Korea is increasingly being caught up in the rivalry between the United States and China, which is inflaming tensions with North Korea,” said Youkyoung Ko, an author of the report and representative of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. “Rather than escalating the situation by continuing the arms race, the U.S. and China should work to reduce tensions by cooperating on officially ending the Korean War.”
“There needs to be support for local and transnational civil society peace initiatives to increase interactions across the DMZ on the Korean Peninsula and establish the conditions for genuine peace in East Asia, and beyond,” said Dong Jin Kim, a Senior Research Fellow in Peace and Reconciliation Studies at Trinity College Dublin.
“At a time when U.S.–China relations are veering toward conflict, this report shows the urgent need for cooperation between Washington and Beijing, and it offers a vital issue — peace and diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula — on which U.S.–China cooperation would help all sides turn away from a disastrous great power conflict,” said Jake Werner, Research Fellow at Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
Among the key findings of the report:
- U.S.-China tensions have had a chilling effect on relations between North and South Korea, as North Korea has aligned itself even more closely with China and Russia, while South Korea has become increasingly integrated into a trilateral alliance with the United States and Japan.
- A zero-sum U.S. strategy towards China limits the space for cooperation and has led to a cycle of provocations that could easily escalate into a military conflict on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.
- The resolution of the Korean War is an obvious area in which the United States and China, both signatories to the 1953 Armistice Agreement, could work together. Cooperation toward peace in Korea would also remove a key point of contention between them and lay the foundation for addressing urgent global crises such as climate change and pandemics.
- Overcoming the ever-deepening structures of militarism in East Asia requires moving beyond state-to-state diplomacy and involving the participation of civil society, especially women’s peace groups. A broader regional response is also required to achieve peace and denuclearization in Northeast Asia.
As the authors argue, the United States must pivot away from its current zero-sum approach towards a human security framework that centers frontline communities, prioritizes the resolution of conflict through diplomatic means, and avoids war at all costs.
REPORT LAUNCH EVENT:
What: Join us for a discussion of “U.S.-China Competition and the Korean Peninsula: From Confrontation to Peacebuilding” with the report’s authors, followed by a Q&A.
When: Wednesday, October 26, 2022, 10am ET
Register here.
Speakers:
- Kevin Gray, Ph.D., Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex
- Dong Jin Kim, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow in Peace and Reconciliation Studies at the University of Dublin
- Youkyoung Ko, Consultant for Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
- Colleen Moore, Advocacy Director of Women Cross DMZ
- Moderator: Jake Werner, Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute