Hi, I was just wondering how Koreans feel about the matter with the PRC passing anti-secession laws and wanting to use military force on Taiwan if they claimed independence.

In a situation such as that, do any Koreans think that Chinese and South Korean relations are good enough to where South Korea would turn their back on Taiwan or do they think that South Korea's military would help out?

Also, does anyone see China as a larger possible threat to South Korean security than Japan, despite the issue with Dokdo?

Any other opinions, let me know.

South Korea military is not at a point where it could be any decisive factor in Taiwan issue. ROK government also has no reason to turn offensive against the PRC government on the issue of Taiwan, at least not publically. The government may condemn aggressive action in the region, but otherwise will do little but observe the situation carefully.

And yes, many people, including myself, sees PRC as more dangerous military threat to Korean security than Japan. As much as the Japanese boast, they are unlikely to ever attempt direct action against Korean mainland in full-scale war. They can't beat us that way, and US probably won't allow Japan to go out of control in that fashion. Should we feel threatened enough, Korea will seriously damage Japanese internal security and economy by launching long-range missiles and using submarines against Japanese ports to choke their maritime trade.

China, on the other hand, is much more capable of launching full-scale offensive into the Korean peninsula through the Sino-Korea border, as well as mobilize their large Flanker fleet and the naval forces to directly attack Korea and blockade trade. Unlike Japan, China is less likely to back off with a threat of unrestricted submarine warfare and missile strikes against port-cities and other economic centers. They are also strategic nuclear weapon operators.

Under these conditions, I feel it's only right that we consider China a much more capable hostile nation than Japan despite what each of us may feel about the two.

South Korea will not defend Taiwan, nor do we really care about Taiwan. Our relationship with the Chinese mainland is much more important. South Korea officially recognizes mainland China over Taiwan. South korea cut relations with Taiwan in the 80s, 90s I believe. South Koreas relationship with Taiwan isnt that great. The UN also kicked Taiwan out.

In any case if a war occured South Korea is much more likely to defend China then Taiwan. Of course this isnt necessary since China is like a zillion times larger than Taiwan. As for China being a threat to south Korea- yes its a possibility. Chinas rising influence in asia can hurt us if we are unlucky. Chinas influence in north korea is growing which is a bad thing.

perhaps the most obvious stated

its pretty common sense really. Why would South Korea jeopardize all that trade and business prospects in mainland China over Taiwan? What has Taiwan ever done for South Korea?

Isn't mainland China supposed to be the economic engine for the new South Korean economy? Why throw all that away for Taiwan?



i dont see why china would want to threaten south korea in anyway. the two countries are becoming economically interdependent. what purpose will a military confrontation hold?

You can't assume anything in defense. China and Korea holds a lot of smoldering issues that flares from time to time, from historical issues to North Korean relationship, territorial and economic zones. South Korea and China have contested for economic development rights in the West and South sea. Several times in the past, South Korean research ships have been harassed by Chinese patrols ships while conducting survey in these areas. That issue is quiet at the moment, but have no been solved.

The Taiwanese once felt strong kinship towards South Koreans. Both were victims of a "divided" nation, both were on the frontlines in the fight against communism. When the one-China policy became serious, one by one, nations severed ties with Taipei and nobody's departure hurt the Taiwanese more than ours. They expected us to be one of the very few who would stick by them, instead we left in a hurry without any second thoughts or remorse.

I've heard there is still some lingering sense of bitterness from Taiwanese who were confronted with the news of severence of ties between the two nations in the late 80s I believe it was? I'm told that not a lot of Koreans are aware of this, something I try to remedy everytime someone complains about the cold-hard realities of international relations.

i think..need big deal
china get taiwan
and s.korea get n,korea

so....sk made unification with nk...

I can't really think of anything that would spark a military offensive towards SK. I mean even if NK screws up and does something stupid, China wouldn't go to its defense.

You can't really predict what's going to happen in the future ... especially in regard to war. Who would have thought Germany would rise again and start WW2 after the humiliating Versaillie treaty. and, in recent events, US invaded Iraq ... and you know what? they used to be allies. US was a strong supporter of Sadam Hussein during Iran-Iraq war. Given 10-20 years, anything is possible. And, personally, i think the confilict between korea and china (i mean, unified korea) is highly possible. Historically, korea had A LOT more conflicts with China than with Japan. if a new government of unified korea refuses to sccumb to the chinese hegemony, then we will have a war at our hands. It has been always that way since the ancient time.

personally, i'd prefer US hegemony to Chinese hegemony. (i'm korean,but no ... i don't think there will be Korean hegemony in the region in forseeable future. ... maybe after 100 years??? )

Maybe there will be a massive scramble for natural resources. Maybe, that is when all the developed nations go on an all out war. That is a scary thought.

I personally think SK will side with China just for economical reasons.. but will not assist in any military actions.. most they'll do is assert pressure on Taiwan

Even if the US, Canada, and European nations jumped in?

Frak Taiwan. we don't need them. or at least, not nearly as much as China. Helping Taiwan would be one of the stupidest things that the government could do.

I see China as more of a threat than japan. Japan won't be attackin us again for a while. they'll just piss us off a lot with things like Dokdo and the war history, and all that crap.

well, I don't see why China would want to attack South Korea. What for?

And it's in south korea's best interest for china and japan to have bad relations because if china and japan somehow mended up relations and engaged in heavy trading, south korea is easily replaceable by japan. however, these days, south korea has actually surpassed japan in terms of investment in china.

You guys are all idiots, especially korean_turtle87. No (asian) nation is going to attack another asian nation except for the Taiwan and China issue. korean_turtle87, give me one fu-king good reason why "Japan won't be attacking us again for awhile". You're an idiot, get the facts straight.

And what, you can see future? Wow, so when's the end of the world?

It's called an educated guess. Apparently, you're missing the educated part.

Educated? Is that what half-wits call WAG these days?

I think ur the idiot.
1. China is unlikely to make any direct military engagements in Taiwan. WHy should they? If they do, can they take Taiwan? Not likely. And they know this. so they don't even want to try. They simply sabre rattle to try to scare the Taiwanese pple of a possible attack.
If China attacks, then all her efforts of the past 10 years on softly diplomacy would have gone down the drain hole. China currently has too much DOMESTIC issues to deal with, and really doesn't have any capacity to launch any sort of invasion (especially against a powerful rival liek Taiwan)

2. In fact China doesn't want any sort of conflict. Peace and economic booms fits best to the current state in which China need to develop. That's why China hosts the 6 way talks abot the NK issue. which is why China insists in 6 Way - that includes SK Russia Japan.. WHile Nk actually wanted 2 way talks with the US

3. I'd also like to ask u, what benefit does Taiwan get from an independance in the first place? If Taiwan declares independance - therefore a war with China, what benefit will it get? Firstly it would get BLASTED oFF THE PLANET by chinese missles-- even if they defeat the chinese naval force and hence protect herself from an invasion- taiwan would be a poor barren piece of $hit. This would have UTTERLY NO BENEFIT for KOREA. No country would ally with Taiwan - apart from maybe Japan so it can sneak in and take a few islands away for its own benefit.

4. Though the US says it backs Taiwan - it simply is saying it to back China off- and to seal weapons to Taiwan and MAKE MONEY- Americans give no crap on Taiwanese welfare at all.

5. Japan WONT BE ATTACKING ANYONE. JAPAN WOULD LOVE to see Taiwan go to war - so it can get benefits such as naval sea area , natural resources...etc

Anything could happen. US might attack Canada someday. Canada has a contigency plan if that happens.

It sorted happened. During the war of 1812 (Second War of Independence, when the UK invaded the newly formed USA in an attempt to reconquer America), a few militia men had it in thier heads that if they attacked Canada a few colonists would rise up and join the Americans in a war against the British.
However, those guys failed. Canada's much too hard to conquer, being a big country and all.

canada is USA's top trading partner producing 25% of USA's oil. I doubt that would happen lol

deleted stupid mistake

Everybody knows that Canada and Mexico are planning for joint invasion to the US.

BS. The US has nukes, Canada and Mexico don't. Besides, the last time Mexico invaded the US, the US conquered more than two-thirds of their country and made it into the Western United States.

well said.

It was a joke.

Well, not a good one.

BS. It doesn't matter whether US has nukes. Mike Mier will save the day! Austin Power anyone?

ps: if you don't know yet, Mike Mier is canadian.



Man, u are too serious.

It's Mike Myers. And, maybe you're not serious enough.

Like I needed a military lecture on something so basic.