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The Chinese government has rejected the Korean government's appeals that it rectify its distortions of Koguryo history and prevent its recurrence on grounds that, "Being a big country with a large population, China cannot control every problem occurring here and there." Though it claims itself to be a "big country," it is nothing but a narrow-minded country of size.
Serving as advisors to the Northeast Asia Project, the institution engaged in the distortion of Goguryeo history, are Li Tieying, Chinese Communist Party Central Political Bureau member and president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Xiang Huaicheng, the Chinese State Council's Finance Minister, according to the Internet homepage of the project's secretariat. Of the 15 million yuan (approximately W2.25 billion) budget of the project, 10 million yuan is financed by the Ministry of Finance. The excuse that China, being a big country, cannot control each and every occurrence is evidently a manifest lie. After all, this cannot but be taken as an act looking down upon the dignity of the Republic of Korea.
In inter-state relations, a country that tries to read another country's mind and that swings without principle is disdained by others. Other countries cannot unduly handle the Netherlands and Thailand, both small in area and backward in economy, because they have persistently adhered to principles and displayed resolute attitude with regards to their sovereignty. A country whose officials praise the United States when they visit the country, who cite Japan as the most important country while in Japan, and who utter nice words to China once in China can hardly be treated as a country of principle.
On China's distortions of Koguryo history, our government has not set forth any clear-cut principles. Despite the evident fact that the Northeast Asia Project is designed to deny the authenticity of our history from the roots, this government, following Beijing assertions, behaved as if an "academic approach" is the only route available. It is belatedly bustling, dispatching a foreign ministry bureau director-general to Beijing to file a protest, moving to set up a special committee in the National Assembly and crying about "resolute countermeasures." A country's sovereignty and dignity can hardly be restored by such gestures.
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