China urges new South Korean government to avoid new cold war

Foreign Minister Wang Yi tells his counterpart Park Jin that the two countries should try to overcome their differences and keep the region ‘open and inclusive’

Beijing is concerned about the election of Yoon Suk-yeol, a pro-US conservative who said ‘most South Koreans, especially the young, dislike China’

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South Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:30pm, 17 May 2022Updated: 9:08pm, 17 May 2022

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged South Korea’s new administration to help reduce anti-China sentiment and avoid a new cold war.

Wang made the remarks on Monday during his first official exchange with his counterpart Park Jin, just days before President Yoon Suk-yeol’s first meeting with Joe Biden in Seoul on Friday.

Beijing is worried that its largely friendly ties under Yoon’s predecessor Moon Jae-in are on the cusp of change under the new president, a pro-US conservative.

Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping, have reached out to Yoon, with Vice-President Wang Qishan attending his inauguration ceremony last week in his first overseas visit in two years.

Yoon stirred controversy with a comment during his presidential campaign that “most South Koreans, especially young people, dislike China.”

“Thirty years ago, the two countries got rid of the shackles of the Cold War and opened a new chapter of cooperation,” Wang said, referring to the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992, according to a readout on the Chinese foreign ministry’s website.