HONG KONG (AP) – South Korea’s foreign minister met with his Chinese counterpart in the city of Xiamen, in southern China, on Saturday, while Seoul seeks to improve ties with its main trading partner, even with relations US-China still strained.
Before the trip, South Korea’s newly appointed foreign minister, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters that he hoped North Korea would be a key issue in negotiations with Wang Yi.
In his opening statement, Wang said that China and South Korea “will seek a process for a political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue” as part of the pursuit of permanent peace policies amid North Korea’s nuclear standoff with Washington.
Chung said that both China and South Korea share the goal of “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.
He said South Korea asked China “to continue to play a constructive role in the stable management of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and to achieve substantial progress in the Korean Peninsula’s peace process”.
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that key diplomats also agreed to press for a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to South Korea once the coronavirus pandemic is stabilized, and recognized the need for trilateral cooperation. with Japan while pushing for a trilateral summit between countries.
South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper speculated that China’s decision to host Chung in Xiamen, a city close to the autonomous island of Taiwan, intended to send a message to Washington against trying to support a led “anti-China” coalition by the USA. “
The Biden government has stepped up efforts to strengthen cooperation with allies South Korea and Japan, with a focus on China’s growing influence and the North Korean nuclear threat.
On Friday, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, received his South Korean and Japanese colleagues at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for discussions on the countries’ triple partnership and Washington’s policies for the North Korea.
The United States and China are at odds over a range of issues, from trade to human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and China’s western Xinjiang region, as well as over Taiwan, China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and the coronavirus pandemic. China has also been accused of lax compliance with UN sanctions designed to curb North Korea’s nuclear program.
The worsening relations between Washington and Beijing raised concerns in Seoul that the country would be squeezed between its main security ally and its largest trading partner.
Earlier this week, Wang also met with colleagues from four Southeast Asian countries – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
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Kim Tong-hyung reported from Seoul, South Korea.