Empire and Righteous Nation: Past, present and future of China-Korea relations
Sino-Korean relations have played a key part in the Korean Peninsula’s history. They will do so further still in coming decades. This panel seeks to understand the past so as to better plan for the future.
For much of the past century, Korea has been forced toward the centre of international affairs. In 1894-1895, China and Japan fought a war over Korea, each believing that control of the peninsula was essential to its own future. In 1910 Japan annexed Korea, seeking to incorporate it into a new empire. In 1950-1953, China and the United States engaged in a fierce conflict alongside their respective Korean allies, reducing much of the country to ashes. And in our own time, well after the Cold War, the North Korean Communist regime insists on its right to develop nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles in response to what it sees as an American threat, making Korea—yet again the centre of international contention.
This panel seeks to untangle the history of Korea’s relationship with China and, given that Sino-Korean relations will be of crucial importance in the future, build on this knowledge to recognize new opportunities, or avoid false paths, over the years to come.
This event was recorded on Tuesday 16 March 2021.