China to host top-level talks with South Korea as US presses containment strategy in region

Name: Biden says China won't become ‘the most powerful country’ on his watch
Uploaded: 2021-03-31T01:00:21.000Z
Duration: 2 min 50 s
Description: Biden says China won't become ‘the most powerful country’ on his watch

Foreign ministers Wang Yi and Chung Eui-yong are expected to cover denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula when they meet in Fujian

Seoul’s ‘strategic ambiguity’, its delicately balanced position between the interests of Beijing and Washington, may be close to expiring, says professor

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South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong will meet China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week. Photo: YNA/DPA

Catherine Wong

Published: 9:00am, 31 Mar 2021Updated: 9:00am, 31 Mar 2021

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will host his counterpart from Seoul, Chung Eui-yong, for talks this week as China tries to woo South Korea and break US containment in the region.

Chung, who became South Korea’s minister of foreign affairs in February, will meet Wang in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian this week, sources told the South China Morning Post.

The visit to China by South Korea’s top diplomat will come just weeks after a tour of Asia by United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in which Blinken and Austin focused on marshalling Washington’s alliances, in particular with Tokyo and Seoul, to counter Beijing’s clout in the region.

Seoul has sought to find balance in its alliance with Washington and its economic reliance on China, with Chung saying after Blinken’s visit that South Korea valued its relations with both powers and did not want to pick a side.

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Biden says China won't become ‘the most powerful country’ on his watch

Previously a top security adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Chung played a key role in Moon’s engagement policy for North Korea that led to the historic summit between former US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2018. Chung also served as Moon’s special envoy in liaising with China on North Korea.