Perception of China on Current Regional Security Issues: 

Focusing on Perceptions and Opinions of Experts in China

Dr. CHUNG Jae-hung

Research Fellow,

The Sejong Institute

jameschung@sejong.org

Executive Summary

□ Background Information

❍ This Brief discusses perceptions and opinions of influential experts in China about key regional security issues as the U.S.-China relations rapidly deteriorate with the U.S. President Trump’s changes into hardline policies against China and China’s tough responses.

□ Key take-aways

❍ This Brief analyzes perceptions and opinions of the Chinese experts on following topics: first, the U.S.-China relations and Indo-Pacific Strategy; second, North Korea’s nuclear issue and sanctions; third, the ROK-China relations.

□ Key Implications

❍ This Brief provides three key implications. First, strategic competition between the U.S. and China will continue to intensify, and South Korea is not free from such circumstances. It is urgent to prepare policy alternatives and scenarios. Second, the outbreak of COVID-19, mutual distrust between the U.S. and North Korea, and deterioration of the U.S.-China relations are making the North Korean nuclear issue harder to be solved. It seems wiser to separate the issues of the U.S.-China relations and North Korea’s nuclear weapons and make different approaches respectively. Third, it is important to implement measures to develop the ROK-China relations and strengthen security cooperation between the two by pushing forward an early visit of President Xi Jinping to South Korea, promoting security cooperation in non-traditional areas, and institutionalizing strategic communication channels including track 1.5 dialogues.

※ This article is written based on the author’s personal opinions and does not reflect the views of the Sejong Institute.

※ Translator’s note: This is a summarized unofficial translation of the original paper which was written in Korean. All references should be made to the original paper.