November 2013     EAI Asia Security Initiative Working Paper No. 31 This working paper by Sungbae Kim analyzes Korea's traditional Confucian strategies toward China in order to understand the traditional East Asian order. Kim argues that the traditional East Asian order was constructed reciprocally by China and its neighbors, and describes how the definition of China was at the core of the East Asian nations' strategic choices. Furthermore, he highlights that soft power is an essential part of Korea's strategies toward China by drawing lessons from a reinterpretation of Chosun scholars' ideas. He also posits that it is necessary to move away from the dichotomy between the inevitability of pursuing balance-of-power strategies and the existence of a single option for engagement policy. Preview EAI Asia Security Initiative Working Paper A Challenge for the ROK-U.S. Alliance: Defense Cost-Sharing_Won Gon Park 909 Sampoong B/D, Eulji-ro 158, Jung-gu, Seoul 100-786, Republic of Korea Tel 82 2 2277 1683  |  Fax 82 2 2277 1684/1697  |  Email EAI  |  Unsubscribe Copyright 2013© EAST ASIA INSTITUTE. All Rights Reserved.