China-South Korea ties are low and could go lower, Chinese envoy says

Xing Haiming also rules out prospect of presidential meeting until Seoul shows respect for core issues, such as Taiwan
The two countries have been tussling for weeks over the island, with South Korea falling more in line with the US

Taiwan

Zhuang Pinghuiin Beijing

Published: 7:00pm, 26 May 2023

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Ties between China and South Korea are at a low point and could worsen, Beijing’s top envoy to Seoul said on Friday, adding China was determined for relations to improve.

“Frankly speaking, current Sino-Korean relations are not good and there is a risk of further deterioration … I am very worried about it,” ambassador Xing Haiming told Seoul-based broadcaster MBC.

Xing said the most important thing for the “neighbours and partners” was mutual respect, especially in vital core interests, a reference to Taiwan, an issue at the centre of a diplomatic row between Beijing and Seoul.

Xing also ruled out the possibility of a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Yoon any time soon, saying such a visit would require a favourable political climate and both sides should work together to create it.

Seoul would first need to show “full respect for China’s core concerns in areas such as the Taiwan issue”, before other talks could take place, Xing said.

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China and South Korea have been arguing for weeks over claims and counterclaims over Taiwan.

Beijing sees the island as a breakaway province to be unified with the mainland. Most countries, including the United States and South Korea, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state but oppose the use of force by Beijing to change the status quo.

But before leaving for a trip to the US last month, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said Taiwan was “not simply an issue between China and Taiwan”.

“Like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue,” Yoon said in an interview with Reuters.

“After all, these tensions occurred because of the attempts to change the status quo by force, and we together with the international community absolutely oppose such a change.”

The statement prompted a protest from China followed by a protest from South Korea over opinion pieces run in Chinese media.

Yoon’s comments reflect a shift in the country’s foreign policy since he took power a year ago, moving South Korea closer to the US and Japan amid tensions on the peninsula over North Korea’s weapon tests.

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Earlier this week a senior Chinese foreign ministry official visited Seoul to “state a solemn position on China’s core concerns”.

Liu Jinsong, director general of the foreign ministry’s Asian affairs department, “set forth solemn positions on China’s core concerns” in a meeting with his opposite number, Choi Yong-jun, in Seoul on Monday, according to China’s foreign ministry.

The meeting in Seoul came hard on the heels of a Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, where leaders expressed “serious concern” about the situation in the East and South China seas, and called for maintaining “peace and stability” across the Taiwan Strait. South Korea is not a member of the group but Yoon was invited as an observer.

In response, Chinese vice foreign minister Sun Weidong summoned the Japanese ambassador to protest over “hype around China-related issues” at the summit and accused Tokyo for collaborating with other G7 countries “in activities and joint declarations … to smear and attack China, grossly interfering in China’s internal affairs”.

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Xing also said on Friday that in a meeting last week Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho expressed a desire for talks soon with ministers in charge of the economy.

During the meeting both sides reaffirmed the principle of maintaining the security and stability of the supply chain following China’s ban on US memory chip manufacturer Micron Technology.

South Korea is home to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, two of the world’s biggest chip suppliers.