China’s Rise and the Two Koreas: Politics, Economics, Security by Scott Snyder (review)

The rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to global economic prominence and regional if not global geostrategic significance is a phenomenon that has attracted the attention of numerous observers and policymakers. Scott Snyder’s timely volume explores the implications of China’s rise for both the Republic of Korea (ROK), or South Korea, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea. His observations and conclusions will be of great interest to international relations scholars and practitioners alike.

Snyder’s impressively slim volume begins with an introduction that surveys various theoretical explorations and predictions of relations between the PRC and the two Koreas. His laconic conclusion that these relations are “far more complex and nuanced than the options anticipated by the major schools of international relations theory” (p. 12) is well taken and amply demonstrated in subsequent chapters. Snyder also clearly articulates one of the overarching themes of the book (as expressed in the preface), “the interrelationship of economic interdependence and political leverage” (p. ix). The next three chapters survey the dramatic shifts in relations between the PRC and the ROK in both the economic and political realms as China and South Korea moved from limited trade and mutual nonrecognition to normal diplomatic relations and ever-growing levels of trade and investment. Chapter 5 covers the same chronological territory for relations between the PRC and the DPRK, chronicling the shift from a close alliance relationship to one in which the PRC attempts to maintain equidistance between itself and both Koreas while remaining the DPRK’s most significant source of aid and support. Chapter 6 is a fascinating examination of the competing agendas, priorities, and dilemmas faced by the PRC as it seeks to promote its interests vis-à-vis North Korea. Based primarily on interviews with China-based analysts, it constitutes an illuminating examination of both the complexity of Chinese foreign policy analysis (if not decision making) and the surprising diversity of opinions within China regarding its North Korean neighbor. The next two chapters demonstrate that Snyder’s ambition and grasp exceed the China-and-the-two-Koreas’ parameters implied by the book’s title. Snyder explores the changing dynamics of the China–South Korea–United States Security Triangle (chapter 7) as well as the role of the Korean peninsula in the abiding and ongoing Sino-Japanese rivalry (chapter 8). Finally, he concludes with an assessment of the implications of the past two decades of changes for Northeast Asian security more generally.

This book is fascinating, illuminating, and thought provoking and should be required reading for anyone interested in contemporary Northeast Asian international relations, Chinese foreign and economic policy, as well as the foreign and economic policies of the two Koreas. One impressive aspect of the book is the richness of its detail, all the more impressive given the sweeping scope and relative brevity of the book. Important events and anecdotes — the 1985 torpedo diplomacy of the PRC and the ROK, the 1992 Operation East Sea (the South Korean code name for the ROK-PRC normalization negotiations), the 2001 controversy surrounding the ROK treatment of alleged Tiananmen dissident Xu Bo, the 2004 takeover of Ssangyong Motors by the Shanghai Automotive Investment Corporation (SAIC), the 2005 incident in which ROK National Assembly members found the power to their Beijing press conference cut by Chinese agents, and the 2007 blunt declaration of DPRK vice minister Kim Kye Gwan that North Korea sought better relations with the United States in part to counterbalance growing Chinese power (and this list is but the tip of the iceberg) — effectively illustrate the changing nature of the relations in the region and demonstrate Snyder’s keen eye and extensive knowledge and experience.

Many of Snyder’s conclusions are noteworthy as well. He cogently argues that while economic interests, particularly the anticipation of...