My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 456 Position
Of course, Zhang Shidong is no longer the Minister of the State Security Planning Department, but he is still a political figure with considerable influence, and the title "Minister Zhang" is a respectful way of addressing him.

“Oh, I have long admired Minister Zhang Shidong,” An Rusong said respectfully, his words coming out naturally. He was very proper.

Song Shiyong smiled and led An Rusong up the steps in front of the villa. He changed the subject and said, "I heard from Mr. Quan that he had met with Chairman An once before, but they didn't have a chance to talk much."

An Rusong nodded and replied simply, "That's right. I just brushed past Mr. Quan back then, I didn't expect him to remember."

The place where he had met Quan Douhuan was a rather sensitive location, so An Rusong naturally wouldn't describe the situation in detail. Moreover, Song Shiyong brought it up not to inquire about the details, but rather to introduce the next topic, such as why Quan Douhuan had invited him to this banquet today.

"Hehe, Mr. Quan is very interested in Chairman Ahn," Song Shiyong continued as expected. "Mr. Quan has mentioned more than once that Chairman Ahn is the most promising young man in South Korea in recent years. Because of this, the brothers in the capital are a little jealous, haha."

The "Jeon Jae-guk" he mentioned refers to Jeon Doo-hwan's eldest son, Jeon Jae-guk. Last year, it was revealed that this guy's personal net worth was nearly 100 billion won. At that time, this news spread all over the internet, and it is unknown who leaked it.

However, there were rumors at the time that the news was leaked by Ms. Park in order to attack Chun Doo-hwan, who opposed her presidential campaign.

"I'm ashamed, Mr. Quan, you flatter me too much," An Rusong said modestly.

“Oh, this is not an overstatement, but the truth,” Song Shiyong said with a smile, slowing down. “Nowadays, it’s not just Mr. Quan who holds the same view. Minister Zhang, and Representative Park, also agree with this view.”

An Rusong's heart skipped a beat; he vaguely guessed the purpose of Quan Douhuan's invitation to the banquet.

Just now, Song Shiyong said that besides himself, An Rusong, Quan Douhuan and Zhang Shidong would also be at the banquet tonight. But now it seems that there should be at least four people attending the banquet, and the last guest is likely the "Representative Park" that Song Shiyong mentioned.

Which "Representative Park"? Obviously, the only person Chun Doo-hwan can currently refer to as "Representative Park" is Park Hee-tae, who was just elected as the representative of the Grand National Party. Considering Park Hee-tae's current stance, the true purpose of tonight's banquet seems to be out in the open.

Because he was preoccupied with his thoughts, An Rusong slowed his pace considerably. Song Shiyong, who was walking ahead, stopped at the villa entrance, turned around, and smiled, "President An, please come in."

"Oh, okay," An Rusong snapped out of his daze, took two quick steps, and followed behind the other person.

After entering the villa's main gate, there is a small hall inside. This hall is not a living room, but a place to change shoes. In addition, some visitors who cannot be received by the President immediately can wait here temporarily. Therefore, there are tea tables and sofas in the hall for people to rest temporarily.

"Swaying one's political stance is a major taboo!" As soon as An Rusong entered the small hall, he heard voices coming from the door leading from the small hall to the inner palace. The person speaking was very loud, and since the door was wide open, the voices could be heard very clearly.

"What kind of pragmatic diplomacy is this? In the end, it's just playing both sides!" The voice continued, "While maintaining close relations with the United States, he also wants to promote a pro-North and pro-China line. Hmph, does he think that because China's economy has developed rapidly in the past two years, he can benefit from China's economic development by maintaining a pro-China stance? That's short-sighted, extremely short-sighted!"

An Rusong looked at Song Shiyong beside him, his eyes filled with a hint of doubt. He was asking who the speaker was.

Just from these few words, it's clear who he's criticizing. Pursuing a pragmatic foreign policy is the diplomatic path chosen by Lee Min-bo after he took office at the Blue House—maintaining a pro-American stance, emphasizing ROK-US relations, while actively promoting and maintaining diplomatic relations with China.

Lee Min-bo's campaign promise was to boost South Korea's economy during his term. Given the current international environment, and South Korea's geographical location and economic situation, its relationship with China is crucial for economic development. And to actively promote Sino-South Korean relations, the North Korean issue, or the Six-Party Talks, is unavoidable.

Therefore, as a conservative new president, Lee Min-bo's foreign policy, especially his active preparations for a visit to China after concluding his visit to the United States, has been criticized by conservatives, particularly the far-right conservatives.

“Minister Zhang still has the same temper,” Song Shiyong said with a smile, noticing the question in An Rusong’s eyes. “Of course, his voice is just as loud as his temper.”

An Rusong suddenly realized that Zhang Shidong, who came from a military background, was an extreme conservative in politics. In this guy's view, America was his biological father, no, it should be said that he was even closer than his biological father, while China to the north was the Republic of Korea's mortal enemy for thousands of years.

Minister Zhang has only two basic viewpoints on relations with China: First, if it weren't for the US directly intervening and suffering heavy casualties to repel the combined forces of China and North Korea, the Republic of Korea would not exist. Therefore, any upright and conscientious South Korean should be grateful to the US; the saying "admit your mistakes and stand up straight when you're beaten" applies to this.

Secondly, according to Minister Zhang, the wisdom of the Republic of Korea over thousands of years has long left behind famous sayings and maxims for future generations. The most important principle in foreign relations is nothing more than "befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones".

Look at the geographical location of the Republic of Korea. How close is it to China, and how far is it from the United States? Therefore, isn't befriending the United States and attacking China the best foreign policy that the Republic of Korea should pursue?

Believe it or not, in South Korea, there are quite a few people who share the same views as Minister Zhang, in fact, the vast majority. In particular, the so-called strategy of "befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones" is not only popular in South Korea, but is also a view held by many people in Vietnam.

These guys even misuse Chinese culture. They grab a word that sounds impressive and use it without understanding it. They don't even consider whether strategies like "befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones" are appropriate for them.

The phrase "befriend distant states while attacking nearby ones" comes from a sentence in the "Strategies of the Warring States: Qin Strategies". As a foreign policy strategy, its fundamental starting point was that the Qin state was already the strongest among the seven states at that time. Its purpose in "befriending distant states" was to annex neighboring states, and it also had the strength to do so.

Compared to its powerful northern neighbor, the Republic of Korea is not only small in size but also has a small population. Although its GDP per capita is much higher than that of its powerful northern neighbor, in terms of overall national strength, it is no longer comparable to its rapidly rising northern neighbor.

In this situation, is the strategy of "befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones" really appropriate? What, does a tiny country confined to a corner of the peninsula really want to annex a large country with a population of over one billion? This is 2008, not the early 20th century.

In fact, if people like Zhang Shidong truly had a thorough understanding of Chinese culture, they should know that the phrase that truly applies to Korea comes from "Han Feizi: Signs of Demise": "A small state that does not humble itself, a weak state that does not fear the strong, a state that is impolite and insults its large neighbors, a state that is greedy, stubborn and inept at making friends, is doomed to perish."

Of course, An Rusong would only think such thoughts in his mind; he would never say them out loud in front of outsiders. After all, he wasn't the one who formulated the Blue House's diplomatic strategy. Most importantly, in this wretched place called South Korea, there wasn't a single rational person. From Seoul to the provinces, everyone's minds had been corrupted by long-term pro-American propaganda. They believed that with the existence of the ROK-US alliance, they could become "second-class citizens" under their American "father." Being pro-China was not only not an option, but in the minds of these "second-class citizens," they looked down on their rising northern neighbor.

In An Rusong's previous world, even after 2020, when China completely overwhelmed South Korea in terms of technology, military, and economy, what was the state of Sino-Korean relations? Didn't they get even worse? In the eyes of those "second-class people," the reason why South Korea's economy stagnated was entirely because China's development had taken away the opportunities that should have belonged to South Korea.

But these "second-class citizens" don't seem to consider what role they truly play in the eyes of their American "dad." Ultimately, the reason the American "dad" supports them is to contain their powerful northern neighbor. However, with the rise of that neighbor, South Korea can no longer serve as a deterrent. Moreover, American investments in South Korea are becoming increasingly insecure.

At this point, the best option that the United States could make was naturally to transfer its investments in South Korea as much as possible, or even to squeeze the South Korean economy dry, ultimately turning it into a tool of war that could militarily restrain its powerful northern neighbor.

Therefore, from a geopolitical perspective, whether people like Zhang Shidong are pro-China or pro-US is really not that significant. In the process of the two great powers vying for power, any small country involved is just cannon fodder.

(End of this chapter)