The political relations between China and Korea during Qing dynasty (1882-1895) : the study on the “yi-yi-zhi-yi” diplomatic strategy

• Main Author: Park, Soo Bin
• Other Authors: Fang Xiaoping
• Format: Thesis-Master by Research
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Humanities::History
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/149168
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With emphasis on the yi-yi-zhi-yi 以夷制夷 diplomatic strategy (barbarian against barbarian) performed by the Qing China in the face of Western and Japanese imperialism, this paper analyses and discusses the transformation of China-Korea relationship from 1882 to 1895 based on the challenges of the relations between Qing China and Chosŏn Korea. The treaty powers opened up Chosŏn’s door which eventually led Qing Empire’s intervention in 1882. It is an undoubted turning point of the Qing-Chosŏn (Sino-Korean) relations until the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). This period reconstructs the narrative of Sino-Korean tributary relations within the context of new international order and relations. By examining the detailed foreign policy of the Qing China on a series of specific issues in the Chosŏn Korea during the years between 1882 and 1895, this thesis argues that the behaviour of the Qing’s diplomatic manoeuvring should be understood as a strategy of “yi-yi-zhi-yi” (Barbarian against barbarian) rather than a conventional understanding of the Qing China and Chosŏn Korea relationship on the basis of China-centred system. The argument of this thesis is that the Qing intervened the Chosŏn’s local affairs and foreign affairs to attain its security from the foregin powers, Japan in particular, by applying the yi-yi-zhi-yi diplomatic strategy. This paper also argues that the extraordinary period disrupted the existing China-centred diplomatic system, by focusing on the yi-yi-zhi-yi diplomatic strategy taken by the Qing government against Chosŏn, which had utilized from Chosŏn archives, revealing the originality of this thesis to construct a bilateral view of this relation. This paper further examines the Qing’s diplomatic practice of performing yi-yi-zhi-yi policy to involved in certain international relations, when the treaty powers and international law came to stage. This thesis therefore put forward a new analytical framework of yi-yi-zhi-yi diplomatic strategy for understanding the unprecedented changes of the traditional tributary system within the Qing dynasty and Chosŏn dynasty in the late nineteenth century. This thesis suggests that to understand China’s intentions and political relationships, it is beneficial to examine the leading international relations and strategic policy paradigm which influenced China’s foreign policy strategy. With in-depth study on the yi-yi-zhi-yi diplomatic strategy, a different perspective of political relationship and the Qing’s dynamic role has been revealed through pointing out that the Qing government had interfered Chosŏn’s domestic and foreign affairs in the late nineteenth century. Under significant changing rules of international diplomacy, the study on the yi-yi-zhi-yi policy taken by Qing China against Chosŏn Korea in the historical stage has wide applicability regarding international affairs between these two countries and may serve as a model for practical implementation and paradigm of international affair system.