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South Korea’s newly released Indo-Pacific strategy aims to advance its strategic partnership with India but barely makes any mention of its “key partner,” China.

The 43-page document, which was released on Wednesday, expressed an intent to expand the southeast Asian nation’s cooperation with “key partners” in South Asia, a region that has “huge potential for growth.”

“First, we will advance our special strategic partnership with India,” the document stated, calling New Delhi “a leading regional partner with shared values.”

Noting that India presented “great potential for growth” due to being home to “the world’s second largest population and cutting-edge IT and space technologies,” Seoul pledged to “increase strategic communication and cooperation through high-level exchanges” in the fields of foreign affairs and defence.

It also expressed its intention to strengthen “the foundation for enhanced economic cooperation” by upgrading the two countries’ Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

Hailing the importance of the Indo-Pacific region, which is “home to many key strategic shipping routes,” the document added that “Most of our trade depends on sea lines of communication, with a significant portion going through the Strait of Hormuz, the Indian Ocean, the Malacca Strait, and the South China Sea.”

In particular, Seoul noted that the South China Sea was a “key sea route” that accounted for around 64% and 46% of its crude oil and natural gas transport, respectively, which made its stability essential.

In a veiled reference to growing aggression from North Korea and China in the strategically important water body, Seoul remarked that “there has been a rise in a combination of challenges that threaten a free, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.”

It further elaborated that “the stability of the regional order” was being “increasingly eroded by rising uncertainties in the security environment” and that there was a “growing concern about democratic backsliding and challenges to universal values such as freedom, the rule of law, and human rights.”

To this end, it asserted that it would work towards “achieving prosperity and peace” in the Indo-Pacific region by nurturing “a sounder and more mature relationship” with China, based on “shared interests, [...] mutual respect and reciprocity” and “guided by international norms and rules.”

The document briefly mentioned China only one more time, as it hailed the South’s trilateral partnership with Japan and China, which together account for 25% of the global GDP.

“Trilateral cooperation among these three countries is indispensable to the establishment of stability and the achievement of prosperity and peace in the IndoPacific,” Seoul emphasised.

It also expressed hope to resume the trilateral summits and work together in the areas of green and digital transitions.

Moreover, South Korea expressed readiness to expand trilateral cooperation with Japan and the United States (US).

Welcoming the new strategy, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the document was “a reflection of our shared commitment to the region’s security and growing prosperity.”

Seoul’s goal of expanding security cooperation with “other allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific will strengthen our shared ability to advance international peace, security, and promote nuclear nonproliferation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday that “countries should work together in solidarity for the region’s peace, stability, development and prosperity and against exclusive coteries,” as it “serves the common interests” of regional member countries.

Author

Statecraft Staff

Editorial Team

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