Seoul: As South Korea is increasingly forced to choose sides between the US and China, Seoul and Beijing have been encouraged to identify areas for significant cooperation, which could potentially create "some room" for the Yoon administration to manoeuvre.
South Korea is a key member of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and the Chip 4 alliance, both of which Beijing sees as Washington's attempts to contain China and exclude it from various supply chains.

Beijing has been putting pressure on the Korean government not to join the arrangements, while Seoul has repeatedly stated that it is solely concerned with its own national interests.
"We must participate in IPEF because our national interest will be severely harmed if we do not participate in such a process of making the rules [for regional trade]," Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said when the IPEF was launched in May.

Similar discussions took place between Beijing and Seoul regarding the Chip 4 alliance, which also includes Japan and Taiwan as major semiconductor industry players.

Although it is the only country that has yet to officially commit to the agreement, analysts believe that South Korea will join because doing so is "unavoidable" in order to maintain the competitiveness of its key industry.
Seoul has refrained from calling Chip 4 a "alliance," instead referring to it as a "semiconductor supply chain consultative body."
"South Korea has no intention of excluding or opposing China." "However, in the context of a strategic competition between the US and China, there isn't much Korea can do," said Kang Jun-young, a Korea-China relations professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

The Chip 4 grouping is intended to aid in supply chain stability and talent development within the semiconductor ecosystem. Because the semiconductor industry is one of the few major industries in which Korea is globally competitive, the country will naturally seek to participate in this ecosystem in order to maintain its competitiveness. So, from the standpoint of South Korea, there is no attempt to target a specific country."

South Korea's participation in arrangements such as Chip 4 may not be viewed negatively by Beijing because it means there will be at least one member who is not directly antagonistic to China.
"There are no other countries within the Chip 4 members that can potentially look out for China's interests, as the US, Japan, and Taiwan are not friendly to China," said Choo Jae-woo, a Chinese foreign policy professor at Kyung Hee University.

He added that if South Korea can use its position within the group as a bargaining chip against China, it could be a win-win situation.
"South Korea's strategic value in terms of geopolitics and geoeconomics is at an all-time high at the moment, as both the United States and China require Korea." As a result, Korea should devise a diplomatic strategy that capitalises on such value," Choo said.
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his South Korean counterpart Park Jin in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao, vowing to strengthen ties and maintain stable supply chains amid Beijing-Washington rivalry.

South Korea and China have been encouraged to engage in more direct dialogue in order to identify areas for cooperation and exchange in the future.
"In the end, I believe that problems that can be realistically resolved between South Korea and China should be addressed directly through dialogue between the two." "Korea sincerely wishes to maintain good relations with both the United States and China," Kang stated.
China is crucial to South Korea not only because it is its largest trading partner, but also because it has the most influence over North Korea, he added.

If the North Korean nuclear issue is well managed and controlled, South Korea will finally have something to say to the US [about its bilateral relations with China], and Korea will have some room for independence," Kang added.
However, due to tensions between the US and China, cutting-edge technology may be difficult to develop, though there are other industries where ties could be strengthened.

It would be preferable if economic and security issues were separated so that Korea could maintain a balance between the United States and China. "However, this is realistically very difficult because the US has recently placed a strong emphasis on economic security," said Kang Sung-jin, an economics professor at Korea University.
Manufacturing and agriculture, for example, have potential because they rely less on technology and more on labour.

However, a "vicious cycle" of deepening distrust between the two continues, according to Guo Hai, a researcher at South China University of Technology's Institute of Public Policy, which could lead to South Korea relying more on the US for security.
"Korea's relations with China and the United States will be highly uncertain." "The reality is that Korea is a US ally, and it has less diplomatic room to manoeuvre as US-China relations become increasingly hostile," Guo said.

In the long run, Korea's relations with China will undoubtedly deteriorate, because Korea will inevitably find it more profitable to increase its reliance on the US when there is no room for improvement in ties with China."

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