한중관계 30년 평가와 한국 신정부의 대중국정책 전망

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to predict future Korea-China relations and propose policy measures for the development of bilateral relations through an evaluation of 30 years of Korea-China relations and an analysis of the Korean new government’s policy promotion environment. First, the current status and characteristics of Korea-China relations after diplomatic relations were examined. Korea-China relations continued to develop rapidly based on the increase in mutual strategic value in the early days of diplomatic relations. However, since it was upgraded to a ‘Strategic Cooperative Partnership’ in 2008, practical progress has been slow due to various internal and external influencing factors (variables). Next, the implementation environment of the Korean new government’s policy toward China was analyzed by dividing it into three levels: international, Korean Peninsula, and bilateral relations between Korea and China. Finally, this article predicts that the Korean new government’s policy toward China will take a gradual and step-by-step approach rather than a radical policy change, and proposed policy measures for the development of Korea-China relations in the future, such as minimizing negative effects of changes in the international order structure and external influences on the Korean Peninsula, restoring political trust between Korea and China, maintaining economic cooperation momentum, and managing social and cultural conflicts.