A survey by the Sinophone Borderlands project last year showed that 81% of South Korean respondents expressed negative sentiments about China. This is a sharp increase from just a few years ago: A Pew Research poll from 2015 revealed that 61% of South Koreans had a favorable view of China.

Experts typically explain this sudden change due to tensions in bilateral relations, such as the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system. But another reason for South Koreans’ worsening attitude toward China is its use of foreign policy actions that experts often label “gray zone tactics.”