The Pitfalls of Strategically Aligning Values with Diplomacy: U.S. Foreign Policy toward China Seen from South Korea

초록

The US value-oriented diplomacy encompasses the United States, China, and its allies. However, research on how Asian allies understand and perceive their roles in U.S. diplomacy remains scarce. South Korea presents an interesting puzzle not only because of its strategic importance to the United States but also because of its seemingly reserved or occasionally reluctant support for the United States. Given that Korea has been a stable democracy and a longtime treaty ally, what accounts for its awkward behavior? A Korean example of the Hong Kong National Security Law effectively demonstrates this complexity. Moreover, the rise and fall of South Korea’s “value diplomacy” under the Yoon Suk-yeol regime demonstrates the precarious ground of aligning values with diplomacy for strategic reasons. Given these complexities, this article asks how the United States can design its diplomatic strategy in Asia so that allies such as Korea can actively participate and contribute further. Two strategies are suggested: first, a calibrated division of labor among allies withinvalue-oriented diplomacy; second, clear and stable international standards from which allies can derive a payoff matrix for their support of the United States.

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