While some critics say South Korea is "sandwiched" between Washington and Beijing, the two geopolitical rivals fighting for domination in the Asian Pacific region, Seoul reveals it is rather a blessing than a dilemma for its leadership.
"Some local critics portray South Korea as suffering a side blow in a fight between big powers or sandwiched in between them," but "it could not be a headache or dilemma to receive love calls from both the US and China. It could be, so to speak, a blessing," elaborated Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, as quoted by Yonhap, a South Korean media outlet.
Although it is not easy to maintain close relations with the US and China at the same time, the minister believes, that the Asian Pacific region is "big enough to accommodate a rising China and a rebalancing US."
It should be noted that South Korea has recently announced it will join the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) despite Washington's displeasure. At the same time the probability of deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system deployment in South Korea still remains in the balance.
