- Beijing is trying to improve ties with its neighbours as the Trump administration complains about the costs of America’s alliances with Tokyo and Seoul
- Observers warn there may be limits as to how effective this approach will prove in the long term given their own concerns about China and reliance on Washington
China is trying to take advantage of its neighbours' disagreements with the US to boost its own diplomatic standing, but observers have questioned whether it will be able to enjoy any long-term benefits.
During a recent trip to South Korea, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi chose to play down the bitter dispute over the deployment of a US missile defence system, and instead focused on criticisms of America.
Relations between Washington and Seoul and Tokyo have been hit by the Trump administration's complaints about the cost of maintaining US troops there and calls to change what the White House sees as an unfair economic relationship.
Wang alluded to that situation and China's own trade disagreements with the US in his comments in South Korea.
South Korea looks to China for support as North Korea's Kim Jong-un ratchets up threat
"The world is now full of various uncertainties and unilateralism, as well as bullying and power politics that have been harming global peace and stability and threatening the right to develop our own countries," Wang told a meeting of business leaders and former officials on Thursday.
It was Wang's first visit to South Korea in four years and comes as Beijing looks to boost ties with its neighbours.
Earlier this week, President Xi Jinping accused the United States of meddling in both China and Russia's internal affairs during a meeting with Russian security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Beijing.
His comments coincided with the inauguration of a pipeline to supply Russian gas to China " a move that will further cement their close relationship.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to visit China later this month, and the Kyodo news agency reported that he was expected to meet Xi and take part in a three-way summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Sichuan province.
It would be the fourth meeting between Xi and Abe since the latter's visit to Beijing last October.
But that visit had been the first by a Japanese prime minister since 2011, when relations took a nosedive following a row about the ownership of a string of islands in the East China Sea, called the Diaoyu by China and the Senkakus by Japan.
"China has been intensifying a 'new type of neighbourhood diplomacy' as a way to offset the American influence in the region, amid their deepening power rivalry," said Lee Seong-hyon from the Sejong Institute in Seoul.
East Asia and the world would benefit if China, Japan and South Korea work as one
"Certainly, it's good that China is improving its relations with its neighbours. The caveat is that China is doing this because of America, not for the sake of the neighbours."
Lee said that by taking advantage of Seoul's dispute with Washington over defence costs, Beijing was trying to change the balance of its relationship with both the US and China.
"It's not really a 'charm offensive' but rather a 'sharp power' approach," Lee continued.
"It is to lure neighbours with incentives, but when it fails, then China switches to coercion."
South Korea has already learned the cost of angering Beijing. When it agreed to host the US-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile system in 2016, Beijing reacted with fury over what it saw as a threat to its own security.
It responded with an unofficial boycott targeting South Korean businesses in China and stopped tour groups visiting the country.
Professor Jaeho Hwang, director of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies' Global Security Cooperation Centre in Seoul, said Beijing was working to improve relations ahead of Xi's expected visit to South Korea next year.
"Although the THAAD issue and China's economic sanctions might still plague Sino-South Korean relations, there are more reasons for Beijing and Seoul to ameliorate ties, especially when considering a gloomy international situation facing South Korea as Seoul's ties with Japan and the US worsen. "Moon's visit to China later this month will become a very good opportunity to amend bilateral ties."
China's top diplomat Wang Yi to visit South Korea as Beijing seeks to repair ties
Regional observers said that Beijing's recent overtures to its neighbours may have mixed results.
Artyom Lukin, an associate professor of international relations at Russia's Far Eastern Federal University, said Moscow was likely to be happy with Beijing's attempts to exploit US tensions with Japan and South Korea.
However, he said Seoul and Tokyo were likely to "tread much more cautiously lest their rapprochement with Beijing is seen as defection by Washington".
"Their respective alliances with the US limit how far they can move towards Beijing. This is especially the case with Tokyo," Lukin said.
"Japan is not going to do anything in terms of cooperation with China if it risks alienating Washington."
Lee, from the Sejong Institute, said that Beijing's strategy may have limited success in South Korea too.
"Particularly, the way China handled the Hong Kong issue left South Koreans with more concerns regarding China's future intentions and how it will deal in future with neighbours who will disagree with China," Lee said.
He continued that it was "very interesting" that Beijing "doesn't seem to fully grasp how its neighbours feel about China".
Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.