Why Chinese foreign minister’s trip to South Korea ‘dealt a low blow’ to Seoul
Chinese diplomat Wang Yi visited South Korea, where he urged the nation to pursue strategic autonomy and avoid taking sides between Beijing and Washington. The visit was perceived as a setback for Seoul, as China declined to support South Korea's push for multiparty peace talks regarding North Korea.
Why it matters
The diplomatic friction highlights the ongoing geopolitical tension in East Asia and the difficulty of balancing relations between the US and China.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, concluded his visit to South Korea on Friday, but declined to back Seoul’s push for multiparty peace talks involving the North.
His two‑day trip, which followed President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Pyongyang in seven years in June, coincided with US President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea and call for further talks with the North.
North Korea, however, responded with more than 10 short-range ballistic missile launches on Thursday, prompting the South’s presidential office to convene an emergency security meeting.
During the visit, both sides said bilateral ties had “fully recovered” after years of strain, citing recent exchanges between their leaders and renewed cooperation on trade, technology and people-to-people exchanges.
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