House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) is urging heightened scrutiny of South Korea’s growing engagement with Beijing, warning that economic, technological, and diplomatic developments could pose risks to U.S. interests in one of Washington’s key treaty alliances in Asia.
In a Sept. 28 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Moolenaar cited nine months of high-level engagement between Seoul and Beijing, South Korean semiconductor investment in China, and “discriminatory treatment” of U.S. companies compared with Chinese competitors.
“The U.S.-ROK alliance remains indispensable,” Moolenaar wrote, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea. But he said the potential for friction to develop into “a structural shift in Seoul’s alignment”—a longer-term change in how Seoul positions itself between Washington and Beijing—warranted close monitoring and, if necessary, action….