NEW DELHI -- How folklore guides Chinese foreign-policy interests was brought out by Beijing's recent spat with South Korea over the ancient kingdom of Koguryo, which was founded in the Tongge River basin of northern Korea and, at its height, included much of Manchuria.
At the heart of the politically inspired row was whether the kingdom that bestrode the period before and after Christ was Korean (as the Koreans and outside historians believe) or Chinese, as China's newly revised history claims.
Triggered by the Chinese Foreign Ministry's posting of the revised historical claim on its official Web site, the spat over the kingdom appeared to be an attempt by Beijing to dig into the past to prepare for the future. If a collapse of the rapidly corroding Stalinist state of North Korea establishes Korean reunification, it will create an industrially strong, nuclear weapons-capable Korea and dramatically alter the geopolitics of Northeast Asia.
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