China has its own issues with Japan over the latter’s wartime atrocities, so “by antagonizing Tokyo, Seoul pleases Beijing,” said Leonid Petrov, a Korea expert at The Australian National University.
That, in turn, could bother Washington: “This will inevitably undermine the regional security posture of the United States that traditionally dwells on the anti-communist unity of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan,” Petrov continued. In sum, Moon’s action “creates serious problems for the U.S. security architecture in northeast Asia,” he added.
Nagy, on the other hand, doesn’t expect Beijing will support tensions between Moon and Abe.
China will be wary of South Korean efforts to alienate Japan as it could push Tokyo closer to the White House, he said. That would be an undesirable scenarios for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who doesn’t want increased U.S. influence in Asia.
