I am surprised that the number of Koreans supporting the expansion of the U.S.-ROK alliance is this high:
Koreans are carefully weighing the possible consequences of expanded security cooperation with the United States, especially regarding possible conflicts with China, a survey suggests.
In a recent survey of 1,000 Koreans over the age 18 by the JoongAng Ilbo and the East Asia Institute, 81.8 percent agreed that the Korea-U. S. alliance should address not only issues of the Korean Peninsula but also those of the region at large.
However, though the Korean public favors expanding the U.S.-ROK alliance, they don’t want the ROK to become involved in a conflict over Taiwan:
Should a conflict break out between the United States and China in the Taiwan Strait, a majority of respondents wanted Korea to take no part in the clash.
Slightly more respondents said Korea should remain uninvolved in a clash over Taiwan than those who said Korea should play a role in the conflict, 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent.
When asked more generally what Korea should do in a potential conflict between the two superpowers, 50.3 percent said Korea should stay neutral; 45.2 percent said Korea should support the United States; and 4.2 percent said that Korea should support China.
Luckily for South Korea countries back in 1950 came to their aid when they were attacked by aggressive Communists, but now the majority of Koreans want to turn their backs on a country very similar to them facing aggressive Communism today.
A lot more interesting findings from this survey can be read at the link.
It will be interesting to see if Chinese President Emperor Xi Jin-ping actually visits Seoul or not because I am not sure what he and President Yoon would talk about. If Xi comes that means some kind of concession would need to be made by South Korea. What concession could Yoon give Xi for a visit?:
In this file photo, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) poses for a photo with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during their bilateral talks at a hotel in Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 15, 2022, on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit. (Yonhap)
The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol will set out to arrange a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to South Korea, a senior government official said Sunday.
“As President Xi brought up a visit first to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, we will start discussing the matter with China in earnest through diplomatic channels,” the official told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity.
Chinese President Xi said Saturday he will seriously consider a visit to Seoul during his meeting with Prime Minister Han on the sidelines of the Asian Games, which is currently taking place in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
“Some American experts are pushing for… deployment of US troops to the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island as well as the establishment of combined Philippine-US forward operating bases over contested features such as the Second Thomas Shoal.”https://t.co/3GMjsMh5Lv
All roads in China's Belt and Road Initiative do not lead to prosperity. As the project turns 10, @FukuyamaFrancis and @mbennon caution that more needs to be done to curtail the potential it has bred for bad debts, bailouts, and bankruptcy. https://t.co/Wmovsxc2tY
Taiwan isn't *just* worth defending because of CHIPS.
Letting Taiwan fall cedes the South and East China Seas to China, leaving Japan, S. Korea, ASEAN & the entire Pacific Theater vulnerable to naval blockades, severe food / energy disruptions and national security incursions. https://t.co/CULPil8YfH
Starting with the military exercises of August 2022, there have been notable – and apparently permanent – changes in Beijing’s aerial incursions into Taiwan’s ADIZ.https://t.co/KTSJXM1KQf
I have always suspected that many agitators and protesters are knowingly or unknowingly paid off by Chinese and Russian operatives to cause racial discontent in the U.S. and now we know in at least this case it is happening:
Imani Wj Wright speaks during an exclusive interview with CNN. Wright responded to a posting on Upwork that likely was funded by a pro-Beijing group to arrange a protest.
As they pumped their fists in the air and held signs declaring “Peace 4 All” and “Stop the Violence,” a small group of Americans that gathered in downtown Washington last summer was nearly indistinguishable from the thousands of others who gather in the nation’s capital every year to protest.
But there was a striking difference: The protest was likely funded by pro-Beijing operatives as part of a plan that is aimed at undermining American democracy and promoting China’s economic interests, researchers from Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by Google reported this week.
Mandiant’s report suggests the pro-Beijing group paid an American to arrange the protest – a 24-year-old musician and entrepreneur from Baltimore – who told CNN in an exclusive interview that he didn’t know the organization could be a Shanghai-based public relations firm promoting the Chinese government’s interests.
You can read more at the link, but even if you look at it at the macro-level entire organizations are paid off by the Chinese. For example the NBA will say nothing about human rights issues in China which are far worse than anything going on in the U.S. They do this simply to maintain television viewership in China which brings in revenue to the league.
