China should abandon Cold War approach to Korea

The Cold War resulted in Korea becoming divided.
Should its logic, which has yielded the tenuous assumption that the South Korean experience will inevitably triumph, define a reunified Korea?
The two Koreas’ trade with China currently outstrips their commercial ties with America, and is likely to trend upwards.
A reunified Korea at peace with itself would be unlikely to host US military bases indefinitely, especially with its sizeable combined armed forces to deter aspiring hegemons.
Unlike its bigger neighbours, imperialism has not tainted the history of the one-time hermit kingdom. Throughout its history, Korea has always acted in self-defence against foreign invasion.
A single Korea has good potential to become a politically neutral state like Austria or Switzerland for its own interests and act as an expanded buffer between long-time rivals, China and a Japan backed by the US.
Reunification could take many forms at the outset, including a “one country, two systems” formula, with security assets under a central command.
But whether Korean reunification occurs and succeeds depends largely on stakeholders’ willingness to transcend the binary Cold War logic of ideological and regime supremacy in the best interests of the Korean people.
Among the external parties involved with the aborted six-party talks, China ought to have the most skin in the game of facilitating peace, for obvious geo-strategic reasons, especially its desire to bring Taiwan back into its fold.
The lingering perception that Beijing continues to support the status quo on the Korean Peninsula could well result in the nuclearisation of Japan and South Korea, and also nudge Taiwan in the same direction.
China should realise that holding double standards on these issues may yield adverse unintended consequences for its core interests.
Toh Cheng Seong
Straits Times/ANN