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Introduction

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Korea-China Relations in History and Contemporary Implications

Part of the book series: Critical Studies of the Asia-Pacific ((CSAP))

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Abstract

This introductory chapter explains why studying the historical Korean foreign policy of Sadae (‘serving the great’) can provide policymakers and scholars with a better understanding of and some solutions to the contemporary issues of Northeast Asian international relations. It is composed of three sections. The first section illustrates the impact of history and culture on the interstate relations in Northeast Asia, while the second section outlines the concept of Sadae in Joseon Korea’s foreign relations with great powers. The third section briefly reviews the literatures on Sadae written by contemporary Mainland Chinese and South Korean scholars, based on which, the necessity of employing a combined approach of constructivism and realism to the study of Korea–great powers relations is explained.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This book adopts the Revised Romanization System approved by the Korean government in 2000. For example, ‘Chosŏn’ is therefore spelled ‘Joseon’ in this book.

  2. 2.

    Since this version was published in Japan, ‘Yi’ (‘李’ in Chinese characters) is spelled ‘Ri’ in the volumes’ English titles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Hong Kong, School of Professional and Continuing Education, Hong Kong, China

    Robert Kong Chan

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Chan, R.K. (2018). Introduction. In: Korea-China Relations in History and Contemporary Implications. Critical Studies of the Asia-Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62265-1_1

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