ABSTRACT
This chapter examines China’s relations with the Korean peninsula by focusing on the evolution of China’s change from a revolutionary to a post-revolutionary state and its concerns over security issues. It looks at Beijing’s attitudes towards Korean unification and peace process, the changing priorities in Chinese foreign policy, balance of power and community-building in the region, decline of ideology and personal ties in Beijing’s foreign policy considerations, Korean minorities in China and the issue of North Korean refugees. In 2002, the number of North Korean asylum seekers who successfully arrived in the South reached about one hundred forty. Regarding the issues of Korean unification and peace process, it is believed that the prevailing consensus within the Beijing leadership is to maintain the status quo. Beijing has also encouraged both Pyeongyang and Seoul to create a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, considering the move to be in line with China’s national interests.
