China’s policy towards South Korea: 1961-2017 by Yin Xuan PENG A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Central Lancashire October 2020 1 2 Abstract In the realm of Chinese foreign policy, the majority of scholars and pundits analyze China’s policy towards South Korea from the perspective of China’s rational diplomatic thinking that caters to China’s national interest maximization. However, I argue that China’s diplomacy with South Korea from the late Mao Ze- dong era to the early Xi Jin-ping era should be considered as a combination of the influence of China’s national interest calculation, the Chinese leadership’s diplomatic thinking, the factional struggle among Chinese cadres. The thesis of mine, thereby, attempts to make a contribution to explanation of China’s policy towards South Korea from aspects of Mao’s pursuit of ‘pure’ communism and Deng’s success in the campaign against the Chinese radicals, even though the Sino-South Korean relationship has been viewed as an interest-oriented bilateral diplomacy. China’s new approach towards South Korea emerged from the year of 1961 as Park Chung-hee (1961-1979) became the de facto paramount political leader, as prepared to use developmental policies to promote its modernization programme – the “Miracle on the Han River”, which laid a foundation for a new economic relationship between China and South Korea. Deng Xiao-ping (1978- 1992) did not put forward the “Four Modernization Programme” (“四个现代化” – sige xiandaihua) until the Chinese reformists returned to power, which enabled China to promote secret business dealings with South Korea in the 1980s. In the post-Cold War period, China’s policy towards South Korea developed from a “friendly cooperative relationship” then into a “strategic cooperative partnership”. While there has been literature on China’s “Two-Koreas Policy” since the Sino-South Korean relationship normalization, there is little on changes in China’s “Non-Policy” towards South Korea in the Cold War era. In other words, many researchers explained China’s relations with the two separated governments on the Korean peninsula in the context of China’s “Independent Foreign Policy of Peace” (“独立自主和平外交”政策 – dulizizhu de heping waijiao zhengce) and “Opening and Reform Policy” (“改革开放”政策 – gaigekaifang zhengce), they paid little attention to China’s hostile relations with South Korea in the background of China’s “Leaning-to One Side Policy” (“一边倒” 政策 – yibiandao zhengce), “Fighting-with Two Fists Strategy” (“两条线作战” 策 略 – liangtiaoxian zhanlve) and “One United Front Approach” (“一条线” 策略 – yitiaoxian zhanlve). The dissertation questions why China did not shift the “Non-Policy” towards South Korea until the termination of the Cold War. To demonstrate my argument, China’s changing policy towards South Korea from 1961 to 2017 will be explained through an analysis of primary and secondary literature. In brief, I utilize both Chinese and Western scholarship on China’s diplomatic and economic policies towards South Korea to clarify their respective ideas of the geo-strategic relationship, including articles, books, essays, journals, and memoirs. 3 Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 9 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 9 The literature on foreign policy approaches ........................................................................................ 20 Background ............................................................................................................................................ 25 Foreign policy ......................................................................................................................................... 27 Foreign policy analysis .......................................................................................................................... 30 The rational approach .......................................................................................................................... 33 The psychological approach ................................................................................................................ 41 The bureaucratic approach ................................................................................................................... 46 The rationalist approach in the study of China’s foreign policy (1949-1976) ..................................... 52 The psychological approach under the presidency of Mao Ze-dong ................................................... 55 The rationalist approach in the study of China’s foreign policy (1978-1992) ..................................... 58 The bureaucratic approach under the presidency of Deng Xiao-ping .................................................. 61 The rationalist approach in the study of China’s foreign policy (1992-2014) ..................................... 65 The Literature on China’s relations with the Korean peninsula (1950s-2010s) ............................... 67 Research gap .......................................................................................................................................... 73 Research question .................................................................................................................................. 75 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 77 Chapter outline ...................................................................................................................................... 82 4 Chapter One: China’s policy towards South Korea in the late Mao era (1961-1976) .............................. 86 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 86 Background ............................................................................................................................................ 87 Literature on China’s foreign policy to South Korea in the Mao era ............................................... 90 The rational actor explanation of China’s policy during the Korean War: the priority of supporting the national interest .............................................................................................................................. 115 The impact of the geographic link of the Korean peninsula on China ................................................ 115 The Korean War and Chinese “Aiding North Korea” policy .............................................................. 119 The influence of the Korean War on China’s “Non-Policy” toward South Korea ............................. 123 China’s policies towards South Korea after the Korean War: the rational actor explanation ..... 126 The “Leaning-to One Side Policy” .................................................................................................... 126 The “Non-Policy” towards South Korea ............................................................................................ 134 China’s perspective on the South Korea decision to establish relation with Taiwan ......................... 138 The impact of China’s national security priorities on China’s post-Korean War international relations................................................................................................................................................. 144 China’s security policies .................................................................................................................... 144 China’s confrontation with the United States .................................................................................... 149 The Sino-Soviet Union split ............................................................................................................... 152 The Vietnamese War .......................................................................................................................... 156 The Sino-United States rapprochement ............................................................................................. 160 China’s policy towards South Korea after the Korean War: the psychological approach explanation ............................................................................................................................................................... 166 Mao’s perception of the threat to China’s security ............................................................................. 166 Mao’s perception of the threat from the capitalist powers ................................................................. 170 Mao’s perception of the threat of the United States ........................................................................... 174 Mao’s perception of the Chinese Nationalist Party ...........................................................................