Seugman Rhee's relationship with China - Term Paper Example

The common perception is that China was a common enemy in the Korean War. However, some scholars have intimated that China played a role in the outbreak of the Korean War by siding with the Soviet Union. While the issue of China’s desire to curve their identity as a recognizable entity, there is also the belief that being a communist state they felt obliged to defend their ideologies by supporting the like-minded North Korea. Having been led by Seugman Rhee since independent, South Korea was directly leaning towards United States’ capitalism and democratic ideologies.

South Korea became an enemy of the communists North Korea and China supported by Soviet Union. Seugman Rhee was a strong advocate of free market economy and democracy, probably due to his education background in the United States. South Korea’s Seugman Rhee had a strained relationship with China during his rule, largely due to his belief in free market economy and democratic leaning ideologies fronted by the United States, as opposed to China’s communism ideology spearheaded by the Soviet Union and North Korea.

Although Rhee had a link with China after his early years in a Chinese school, he loathed at the communism ideology, and instead favoured capitalism. In order to understand this relationship, it is important to understand Seugman Rhee’s background as a young man, student and political life. The Life of Seugman Rhee Seungman Rhee was the first president of Korea, and later became the first president of the Republic of South Korea. Born in March 26, 1875, Rhee led Korea when the country was in serious turbulence both internally and externally.

Considered an anti-communist in an era when communism was rampant in the region, the Korean strongman led the country in the Korean War. Rhee’s presidency between 1948 and 1960 was adversely affected by the threats from Cold War in the region. Rhee later resigned as a president after facing protests from the masses who accused him of rigging an election against his opponents. Exiled in Hawaii, United States, Rhee later died in July 19, 1965. The Korean War of 1950s happened during Rhee’s reign, and he was accused by the communist North and his political opponents in South Korea of instigating war.

Despite having close association with China over his schooling years, Rhee did not find communism ideologies acceptable. Although Rhee was born in a rural family in the Province of Hwanghae Province, the family moved to Seoul when he was two years old. He was later got introduced into the Chinese language through early education on the Chinese literature. His family was poor and worse still this did not improve even as he grew up. However, Rhee received a critical break when he began his classical Chinese education at the age of twenty.

The school, Paejae missionary institution was meant to prepare Rhee for a career as a government serviceman. It is during this period that Rhee joined the Independent Club and the Debating Society founded by the United States’ educated reformers such as Chae-pil. The expulsion of Chae-pil from Korea in 1898 gave way for the new leadership of the organization, which included Rhee and others (Sutter 27). Rhee’s move to United States helped him acquire a degree from George Washington University, Harvard, and Princeton.

It is during his stay in the United States that he formed the