Conflicts of Divided Nations: The Cases of China and Korea (review)

144KOREAN STUDIES, VOL. 23 Conflicts ofDivided Nations: The Cases ofChina and Korea, by Weiqun Gu. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 1995. x, 263 pp., notes, bibliography, index. $59.95 cloth. One of the most vivid manifestations of the divided world throughout the Cold War epoch was the existence of divided states. The Cold War was waged not only on the international level but also on the national level, as a conflict between rival governments, each allying itself with an international bloc and each striving to achieve full legitimacy at the expense of its opponent . Three of these states existed in East Asia. South Vietnam long ago was wiped out by its victorious rival, but two others—divided China and divided Korea—still exist, and it appears unlikely that this legacy of a bygone era will disappear soon (at least in the case of the Mainland/Taiwan controversy in China). Two antagonistic pairs—the People's Republic China (Mainland) versus the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North) versus the Republic of Korea (South)—have existed in rather similar environments: both the "capitalist" and "communist" members of each pair maintained close political and ideological alliances and, indeed, for most of their respective conflicts had much in common. Therefore, comparisons between the two divided states of East Asia are only natural and, in fact, have often been made. This book by Gu Weiqun, a former Chinese diplomat currently living in the United States, is an interesting attempt to undertake a systematic and comparative analysis of inter-Chinese and inter-Korean relations. The situation within a divided state, especially when both governments do not recognize one another while nevertheless enjoying a certain measure of external recognition, creates numerous challenges for the conventional theory of international relations, and Gu even proposes a special term, "transpolital relations ," to describe the situation within a divided state. The book has a well-balanced structure. It consists of Introduction, Part 1 (on China), Part 2 (on Korea), and Conclusion. Gu considers three areas of competition between rival governments: military conflict, struggle for national legitimacy, and straggle for international legitimacy. Each part is composed of three chapters, which address in turn each of these three subjects in relation to China and Korea. The book is written by a Chinese expert, and the emphasis is, quite naturally, on China. Of its total volume, only about one quarter is on Korea(s), while Chinese questions are discussed at much greater length and, seemingly, in greater depth. Yet, the book provides the reader with two parallel and systematic narratives about developments in Korea and China. Gu deals with military and quasi-military operations, external and internal propaganda , intrigues at the United Nations and the Non-Alignment Movement, great-power diplomacy, economic diplomacy, and influence peddling. It is laud- BOOK REVIEWS145 able that the author, unlike so many political scientists, does not perceive the past as a mere prologue to the present, to be mentioned just in passing, but pays much attention to history. He cannot resist temptation, however, and at the very end of the book (pp. 200-205) he proposes some scenarios for future developments in China and Korea. First and foremost, though, the book is a historical study. Gu does not use Korean-language sources, so he has had to limit himself to English-language publications and interviews. From a Koreanist's point of view, this is the most serious shortcoming of the book. English-language publications in both Koreas serve above all propaganda purposes, so it is not surprising that they often contain questionable rumors if not conscious fabrications . Heavy reliance on these publications leads to some factual mistakes and dubious statements in the Korea chapters of the book. For example, the South Koreans always try to present their rivals as "foreign puppets" and, hence, tend to play up the Soviet influence on Pyongyang. Relying on South Korean publications, Gu mentions Kim Il Sung's alleged secret visit to the USSR in 1979 to seek Soviet support for a new attack against the ROK (p. 140) and the alleged dispatch of North Korean forces to Afghanistan in the early 1980s (p. 171). Neither of...