Taiwan: "Korea is making us miserable"… 48 trillion won trade deficit, and even cheerleaders have taken over from Korea

Military analyst Kim Dae-young recently said that after visiting Taiwan, he was surprised by local reactions that "Korea is making Taiwan miserable." He noted that Taiwan is running a considerable deficit in trade with Korea.

Mr. Kim said, "When I met people over lunch, the common remark came from people in diplomacy too. Especially Taiwan's foreign ministry. 'Korea is killing us. Your country is the number one trade deficit now.'" He thus quoted the complaints of local diplomatic officials.

Kim Dae-young said that during his Taiwan visit, at a lunch with Taiwanese foreign ministry officials, he heard the remark that Taiwan is "dying" because of Korea. The officials stressed that Korea is the top trade deficit country for Taiwan and voiced their complaints.

This suggests Taiwan feels considerable strain in its economic relationship with Korea.

This shows Taiwan is experiencing an imbalance in its trade with Korea.

Kim Dae-young explained, "Taiwan now has trade surpluses with many countries, but the only country where it has its largest trade deficit is our country."

Kim Dae-young said, "As of July it's 48 trillion won. Wow, that's really a lot. By the way, for reference, our trade surplus with China, the profitable trade, do you know how much it is? 18 trillion won."

Kim Dae-young explained that since the diplomatic break, Taiwan and Korea have become countries sharing a common fate in AI.

He said that many people assume memory chips such as HBM go to the United States, but in fact they go to TSMC. Because chips must be combined at TSMC, Korean semiconductors head to Taiwan, showing the close cooperation between the two countries.

This happens because TSMC buys Korean semiconductor components, and this flow is cited as one cause of growing Taiwan's trade deficit with Korea.

Kim Dae-young explained, "Then the money from TSMC gets spent from the US, so TSMC spends money in our country again. That's why such a big trade deficit arises."

In Saudi Arabia's case, Taiwan runs a deficit because it depends on imports for energy sources.

Kim Dae-young said, "Next, which place do you think is the next biggest trade deficit for us after Korea? Taiwan's. Saudi Arabia. Saudi? Saudi. Because we have to import energy. We sell nothing, it's all imports. Oil, iron ore, we import it all. And the third is Japan."

Kim Dae-young described this phenomenon as "Korea's invasion of Taiwan is intensifying to that degree."

This shows that Korean products are growing in popularity and consumption within Taiwan.

They are active not only at sporting events but also as models in smartphone ads.

Kim Dae-young said, "A lot of our cheerleaders are going to Taiwan now. This time I heard the officially tallied number, about 40 going over. Our cheerleaders are even doing ads for smartphones." This is a clear example of the reach of Korean cultural content in the Taiwanese market.

Kim Dae-young said he was surprised to learn this when he toured a local patrol ship in Taiwan.

He explained, "Some equipment from our country goes into it. So I was really surprised. It was exported. It's not something else. When a helicopter lands on the ship, it has to go into the hangar, and there's one thing our country made there. And Taiwan bought it." He indirectly showed the excellence of Korean defense technology.

He said, "I saw a lot that Korea-Taiwan relations are changing a lot right now." This suggests an expansion of new economic and cultural exchanges beyond the past political relationship.

Kim Dae-young said that even newly appointed officials would feel insecure and could be dragged out at any time.

He also mentioned that rumors are circulating in China that even figures like Zhang Youxia have been investigated by the party's disciplinary organs.

According to Taiwan's analysis, China is conducting intense investigations across all sectors, and anyone whose corruption charges surface in this process is inevitably purged.

Kim Dae-young said, "The common remark is this. First, corruption is too severe. So this is how Taiwan understands it. There's a saying here, 'there's no one who doesn't have dust when you shake them down.' But China is shaking down everything right now. Once dust comes out, they have no choice but to go." This is linked to Xi Jinping's strong anti-corruption drive and is seen as related to power struggles within the military.

Kim Dae-young explained, "Looking at China's important leaders, Mao at least unified China, Deng rebuilt the economy, but many people say Xi is a nationalist. So it seems like the core is making China great, like Trump's MAGA."

This suggests Xi's long-term rule plan is not a mere concept but at a concrete stage of implementation.

Kim Dae-young said, "I heard there's a dedicated research institution in China. So now that project, the 'gong-jeong,' is in fact being carried out. We call it the Jungwon Gongcheon, and I also heard it's actually being implemented." He forecast that such moves will greatly affect the power structure inside and outside China.

The fact that Xi Jinping did not meet Kim Ju-ae is interpreted as a result of this understanding.

Kim Dae-young explained, "What this revealed is that recently Xi didn't come out for the parade. The matter has been settled. Between North Korea and China, it's been cleared up that we cannot accept it, that's your business, not ours." This shows that North Korea's internal succession structure has become an important variable in its relationship with China.

While foreign aid generally employs local labor to revitalize the economy, China dispatches Chinese workers on the grounds that its domestic labor costs are cheap.

Kim Dae-young said, "We borrowed the money, but they come and do everything. In the end we have to repay the money anyway, and friction arises from there," pointing out that this approach causes complaints in countries receiving loans.

Kim Dae-young said that he has lived in China for over five years and personally witnessed the Chinese people's deep contempt toward people of color. He said he felt this when crossing by land between Zhuhai and Macau in China, seeing people of color mainly being held at customs and immigration checkpoints.

Such discriminatory attitudes are cited as one main cause of friction with locals in the Belt and Road projects. He added that, on the other hand, Chinese people are seen to be unable to stand up to white people.

Criticism has been raised that the Chinese government is carrying out large-scale suppression and a language-erasure policy against the Uyghurs of Xinjiang. Kim Dae-young said that over the past decade there has been enormous suppression, including detention in camps, and he expressed concern that the Uyghurs are likely to lose their language.

He explained that since Xi Jinping took power, minority-language instruction has been removed from minority education in favor of teaching only Chinese, and young Chinese compatriots have shown language ability so degraded that they cannot work in Korea. This suggests similar effects may fall on other ethnic minorities beyond the Uyghurs.

This is effectively a language-erasure policy, and critics say it resembles what Japan did to Korea during its colonial rule.

Kim Dae-young said, "If minority education keeps going this way, the Uyghurs may lose their language in the future. So that's already erasure. Just as the Japanese did to us in the past, education is now being carried out in that way, and the Uyghurs look different but are likely to be fully assimilated into China, and such talk is emerging." He emphasized that the Uyghurs are likely to end up fully assimilated into China.