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China poses potential obstacle to reunification of Koreas: U.S. Congress report
By Lee Chi-dong
2013/01/01 10:03 KST
By Lee Chi-dong
2013/01/01 10:03 KST
Dec. 31 (Yonhap) -- China may prove to be a major stumbling block to any future efforts by the two Koreas for reunification, a U.S. congressional report said Monday.
"China could attempt to manage, and conceivably block the unification process," said the report released by the office of Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)
Lugar, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the report is aimed at alerting his colleagues in Congress that the reunification of South and North Korea may not follow the German model due to China's history claims and growing influence on the peninsula.
The 84-page report, titled "China's impact on Korean Peninsula unification and questions for the Senate," was authored by staff members at the chamber with the help of Korean and Chinese historians.
It calls for a painstaking review of how the U.S. will respond in case there is a unification process on the peninsula driven either by the warming of inter-Korean relations or by a collapse of the North Korean regime.
China may try to impede the reunification of the two Koreas, which have been divided for more than 60 years, or seek to play a major role on a reunified Korea, according to the report.
The report cited China's historical claims that North Korea belonged to it and Pyongyang's economic dependence on Beijing.
"Disputes about the Korea-China borderline are historic and endless," it said.
China has also reiterated the importance of regional stability whenever it comes under international pressure to support U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and long-range missile tests.
It quoted Chinese officials as telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier that "China reserved the right to place troops across the border inside North Korea to prevent hungry or impoverished North Koreans from fleeing into China."
"These plans have been described not as an invasion, but as a pre-emptive move that will be taken in consultation with North Korean authorities," it added.
The report also noted that China's expanding investment and trade offensive directed at North Korea "reflects an incremental economic integration with North Korea."
In the event of emergency situations involving North Korea, the Chinese government is expected to speak up about the need for protecting its economic interests there, said the report.
If the nuclear-armed North Korea collapses, South Korea would see itself as the only legitimate party with the authority to act, it said.
"But China is likely to focus legitimacy on a U.N. process that is protracted," it said. "China is therefore likely to focus on a longer time line for intervention and would only see a U.N. process as legitimate."
China apparently views North Korea as strategically important to counter the U.S. influence in Northeast Asia, it said, adding Beijing may move to support the reunification of the two Koreas only when Pyongyang loses its strategic value as a buffer zone.
In the form of an appendix, meanwhile, the report carried detailed views by China and South Korea on their history disputes.
South Korea says the history of North Korea is independent and ancient Korean kingdoms existed in the northern part of the peninsula separately from China.
