Anti-Chinese sentiment in Korea

Anti-Chinese sentiment in Korea was created in the 21st century by cultural and historical claims of China and a sense of security crisis caused by China's rise.[1][2]

History
See also: History of Sino-Korean relations

Anti-Chinese sentiment in the modern sense was manifested by classical liberals such as the 19th-century Gaehwa Party and the Independence Club. They opposed the classical conservatives' Little China ideology and supported 'anti-Chinese Korean nationalism', supported the construction of an "Independent State" (독립국가). Even now, South Korean modern liberals and modern progressives support "Great Korean Independence" (대한 독립) from such powers as the United States, China, and Japan, and North Korea's far-left nationalist likewise advocates "Independence" (주체) from neighboring powers.

Anti-Chinese riots in Pyongyang, Korea in the aftermath of the 1931 Wanpaoshan Incident

In 1931, while Korea was dominated by Imperial Japan, there was a dispute between Chinese and Korean farmers in Wanpaoshan, Manchuria. It was highly sensationalized in the Japanese and Korean press, and used as propaganda to increase anti-Chinese sentiment. It caused a series of anti-Chinese riots throughout Korea, starting in Incheon on July 3 and spreading rapidly to other cities. Chinese sources estimate that 146 people were killed, 546 wounded, and a considerable number of properties were destroyed . The worst riot occurred in Pyongyang on July 5. In this effect, the Japanese had a considerable influence on sinophobia in Korea.[3]

Starting in October 1950, the People's Volunteer Army fought in the Korean War (1950–1953) on the side of North Korea against South Korean and United Nations troops. The participation of the PVA made the relations between South Korea and China hostile. Throughout the Cold War, there were no official relations between capitalist South Korea and communist China until August 24, 1992, when formal diplomatic relations were established between Seoul and Beijing.

In the 1960s, South Korean laws directed against foreign property ownership, at a time when most foreign ownership was by ethnic Chinese, led to many Chinese emigrating from South Korea to Taiwan.[4]

In modern South Korean politics, anti-China sentiment appears in both the left-right spectrum, but tends to be strong mainly in modern conservatives than in liberal-to-progressives. Anti-Chinese sentiment among modern conservatives in South Korea is linked to the anti-communism and Korean War trauma.

Recent history
See also: Northeast Project of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Goguryeo controversies

In the early 2000s, a dispute over the history of Goguryeo, which both Koreas and China claim as their own, caused tension between the two countries.[5]: 9 

Anti-Chinese sentiments in South Korea have been on a steady rise since 2002. According to the Pew Global Attitude Project, favorable view of China steadily declined from 66% in 2002 to 48% in 2008, while unfavorable view of China rose from 31% in 2002 to 49% in 2008.[6] According to polls by the East Asia Institute, positive view of China's influence declined from 48.6% in 2005 to 38% in 2009, while negative view of Chinese influence rose from 46.7% in 2005 to 50% in 2008.[7]

During the Seoul leg of the 2008 Olympic torch relay, over 6,000 Chinese students clashed with protesters.[8][9][10] Violence at the protests was mostly caused by nationalist Chinese people.[10] Chinese demonstrators clashed with local activists who rallied to protest the torch relay, citing Beijing's discouraging treatment of North Korea defectors and the regime's crackdown on Tibetans' rioting for independence.[9] With the result of these violent clashes in central Seoul, anti-Chinese sentiments in Korea aroused great indignation toward the Chinese people.[11] The Ministry of Justice of South Korea indicated that it would punish all such demonstrators, regardless of nationality.[12] The Government of South Korea is toughening visa regulations for Chinese students.[13]

Relations further strained with the deployment of THAAD in South Korea in 2017, for which China started its boycott against Korea, causing Koreans to develop anti-Chinese sentiment over reports of economic retaliation by Beijing.[14]

A study in 2018 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences showed anti-Chinese sentiments in South Korea is becoming serious, with the majority of South Koreans expressing positive sentiments towards the United States and negative sentiments towards China.[15] This contradicts a previous study by the same institute in 2017 that South Korea, in the long term, will not be able to maintain an anti-US stance against Chinese and Russian retaliation. According to the study, since 2013, it has become a trans-generational and trans-political trend in South Korea where the younger generation in their 20s have higher perceptions of China as a threat than the older generation in their 60s. The study deduced three factors behind anti-Chinese sentiments in South Korea, which are cold war ideology, nationalism and China threat theory. According to its analysis, anti-Chinese sentiments first began to rise with the Northeast Project in 2004, and took a decisive turn for the worse in the THAAD conflict in 2017.

According to a poll released by the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University in 2018, 46 percent of South Koreans find China as the most threatening country to inter-Korean peace (compared to 33 percent for North Korea), marking the first time China was seen as a bigger threat than North Korea since the survey began in 2007.[16]

Anti-imperialism

The Global Times, a Chinese ultranationalist media outlet, argues that South Korea's anti-Chinese and anti-Japanese sentiment is an "inferiority complex" which has been caused by the two major powers, China and Japan; According to Global Times, China and Japan are great powers, but South Korea is not, so many South Koreans always think that China and Japan are the only ones who have an advantage in many international conflicts.[17] However, most South Koreans believe that anti-Chinese sentiment is caused by China's hegemony and imperialism. Even South Korea's far-left revolutionary socialists, including Workers' Solidarity, criticize China as an imperial state. (Korea has long been plagued by Chinese and Japanese imperialism.)[18]

Due to the anti-imperialist sentiment of the South Korean people, South Korean TV dramas frequently portray Chinese and Japanese people in negative ways.[19] Some progressive nationalist-biased media outlets argue that Koreans' use of racial contempt for American, Chinese and Japanese people is not racist/racial discrimination because it is a legitimate opposition to minjok hierarchy and anti-imperialist expression.[20]

The centre-left liberal Hankyoreh also pointed out that China's "roughly and unconscientious patriotism" (거칠고 인하무인식 애국주의) is the cause of South Korea's anti-Chinese sentiment.[21] Some South Koreans are concerned that China's economic power will make South Korea an economic colony of China.[22]

In the North Korean government
Further information: Anti-sadaejuui

Many South Korean experts that the relationship between North Korea and China is different from the relationship between South Korea and the United States, because North Korea tends to place a great amount of emphasis on its independence and its sovereignty from all major powers.[23][24]

According to a 2018 by Radio Free Asia, due to sanctions put by China to North Korea, the North Korean government was encouraging anti-Chinese sentiment among its people.[25] According to a purportedly leaked document in 2016, Kim Jong Un once said that "Japan is an enemy for 100 years, but China is an enemy for 1,000 years";[26] however, many North Korea experts expressed skepticism that the document is authentic.[27] South Korean liberals believe the North Korean government wants to cooperate with the United States because North Korean government fears China or Japan more than the United States.[28]

Opposition to cultural imperialism

South Korean commentators have said that there is a dimension of cultural imperialism by China, including China's censorship of Korean content,[29] and claiming some Korean historical figures as Chinese.[30]

On October 13, 2020, RM, a member of the South Korean K-pop group BTS, made a speech about the Korean War, in which he reflected upon South Korea's shared history with the United States through the pains and the losses which both nations suffered during the war. On social media, Chinese nationals criticized BTS's omition of China's role during the Korean war (during the Korean War, China sided with North Korea in order to assist it in its fight against South Korea).[31][32] In response, negative sentiments toward China rose in South Korea, as Koreans viewed the Chinese response as exaggerating the situation without contextualizing RM's statement.[33]

During the 2022 Winter Olympics, the relationship between China and the South Korean people deteriorated. During the opening ceremony, China triggered a controversy among the South Korean public because a Korean Chinese performer wore traditional Korean clothing, along with performers who represented the other 55 ethnic groups in China, the other performers also wore their traditional clothing. The display caused an uproar among the South Korean public and politicians called it "cultural appropriation".[34] The relationship worsened following the Men's 1000 metre short-track speedskating event incident which in South Korean skaters Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo were disqualified after committing fouls. South Korea later filed a protest to International Skating Union, which the ISU rejected.[35][36] The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee later filed an official appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.[35] In Seoul, a small-scale protest erupted in front of the Chinese Embassy, and during the protest, the protesters were seen taking the Chinese flag down and shouting anti-Chinese slogans.[37]

See also

References
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  2. Understanding Korea's Hatred for China. Posted on Korea expose. Posted by Se-Woong Koo on Jan 31, 2022.
  3. 만보산사건 (in Korean). Naver/Doosan Encyclopedia.
  4. Kim, Kwang-ok (2004), "Chinese in Korea", in Ember, Melvin; Ember, Carol R.; Skoggard, Ian A. (eds.), Encyclopedia of diasporas: immigrant and refugee cultures around the world, Springer, pp. 688–697, ISBN 978-0-306-48321-9
  5. Gries, Peter Hays (2005). "The Koguryo controversy, national identity, and Sino-Korean relations today". East Asia. 22 (4): 3–17. doi:10.1007/s12140-005-0001-y. ISSN 1096-6838. S2CID 144129470.
  6. World Public Opinion surveys, 2002–2008 www.worldpublicopinion.org
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