ABSTRACT
This chapter sheds light on the foreign policies of several key states in the Western Pacific. It examines the foreign policies of the People's Republic of China (PRC or China), the Republic of China (ROC or Taiwan), Japan, the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK). In 1949, the ROC retreated from mainland China to Taiwan along with the country's foreign exchange reserves, gold reserves, art treasures and official seal. Two states—the United States and the PRC—will continue to wield an enormous influence over Taiwan's foreign relations in coming years. The ROK's foreign relations changed markedly following the nation's democratization and the end of the Cold War. For example, both Seoul and Pyongyang joined the UN in 1991, and the ROK and PRC established formal diplomatic relations in 1992. China is the number one location for South Korean foreign direct investment, and the two nations signed a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2015.
