China’s top diplomat Wang Yi seeks to improve Seoul ties amid US-South Korea friction
According to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang told South Korean national security adviser Wi Sung-lac that Beijing hoped Seoul would “achieve strategic autonomy, refrain from bloc confrontation or taking sides, and develop relations with major powers – such as China and the US – simultaneously without mutual exclusion”.
In a meeting with Wi in Seoul, Wang also said that lasting peace on the Korean peninsula could only be achieved by addressing the core causes of conflict and ending Washington’s hostile stance towards North Korea.
“China hopes all parties will take concrete actions conducive to restarting dialogue and restoring mutual trust, and welcomes the peninsula moving towards peaceful coexistence, ultimately achieving the transition from an armistice mechanism to a lasting peace,” Wang said.
Trump orders Pentagon chief to cut number of joint military exercises with South Korea
“I look forward to travelling to Shenzhen in November to attend the Apec summit, using it as a major opportunity to work with China to elevate the South Korea-China strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level,” Lee was quoted as saying by China’s Xinhua news agency.
Hailing the improved public perception of China in South Korea, Lee told Wang there were high expectations for strengthening comprehensive cooperation with China.
In the meeting, Wang said a “rational, pragmatic and positive” China policy aligned with Seoul’s interests and he urged South Korea to maintain a friendly policy towards China.
Wang, while pointing to growing trade protectionism elsewhere in the world, called for an acceleration of the second phase of negotiations in the China-South Korea two-way free trade agreement.
It is Wang’s first solo ministerial trip to Seoul since September 2021, although he accompanied Chinese President Xi Jinping to an Apec summit in South Korea last year.
Wang’s meeting on Thursday at the Cheong Wa Dae presidential office and his lunch with Wi Sung-lac highlight an ongoing thaw in bilateral ties.
Meanwhile, the South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement that Wang told Cho Beijing was “actively considering” a meeting between Xi and Lee during the coming Apec summit.
Wang’s two-day trip coincides with notable friction within the US-South Korea security alliance as Washington’s transactional diplomacy increasingly unsettles Seoul.
Joint annual military drills which began on Monday were cut short by six days at the request of the Trump administration.
In a social media post on Sunday, US President Donald Trump linked the scaling back to his personal rapport with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and dissatisfaction over Seoul’s reluctance to support US military operations in Iran.
The manoeuvres were curtailed as Trump seeks another summit with Kim to revive high-stakes diplomacy around North Korea’s nuclear issues, a discussion that stalled in 2019. Media reports said Trump had pushed aides to explore a bilateral meeting, potentially during his Asian trip for the Apec summit.
According to North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo-jong said the country’s leader had positive personal memories of Trump, although she stressed that ongoing US military manoeuvres still reflected a hostile posture towards Pyongyang.
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During his first term, Trump held a series of historic talks with Kim Jong-un on the denuclearisation issue, but the initiatives failed.
Now, Pyongyang demands that any future talks with the US require Washington to drop demands for denuclearisation and instead recognise North Korea as a permanent nuclear weapons state.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday he had no comment on a potential Trump-Kim summit.