4 months ago and’Pan Bak’ resulted in talks between Korean-Chinese foreign ministers, was it worse than profit?

“Exchanging opinions on mutual interests such as normal and high-level exchanges and practical cooperation, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, regional and international issues, etc.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a press release on the outcome of the Korea-China diplomatic ministers’ meeting held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China on the 3rd. At the same time, he added meaning, “It is evaluated that it will strengthen the strategic partnership between Korea and China and contribute to the future-oriented development of the relationship between Korea and China.” However, in the press release full of the expression “I decided to do it,” the visible results were not easily noticeable.

In fact, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ self-reputation and meaning to this meeting is actually a judgment against the content of the press release that then, on November 26, the then-minister Kang Kyung-hwa and Wang announced immediately after the meeting between the Chinese foreign ministers. The only difference is that the expression “the two leaders agreed” that modified the phrase “future-oriented development of Korea-China relations” in the press release last year was omitted in this press release. It means that the dialogue at the level of reaffirming what was discussed in the last year’s talks, rather than discovering new agendas or making progress on current issues between the two countries at the Korea-China foreign ministers’ meeting, which took place in about four months.All.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Korea, set by the Moon Jae-in administration as a major task in public diplomacy, also made no clear progress. At the time of last year’s meeting with the foreign ministers of China and Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs evaluated that “Chairman Xi’s willingness to visit Korea was confirmed once again,” but in this meeting, “the Chinese side re-expressed Xi’s will to visit Korea.” It was a de facto repetition of the same language except that’once again’ was changed to the expression’again’ and’confirmation’ was modified to’expression’. Even Lee, in the results of the meeting announced by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, did not mention anything related to President Xi’s visit to Korea.

The two sides could not find a clear consensus on completely eliminating retaliatory measures from China that have continued since the deployment of the high-altitude missile defense (THAAD) system, such as the lifting of the Korean regime. Ministry of Foreign Affairs “Minister Chung requested more active cooperation from the Chinese side to revitalize cooperation in the field of cultural contents such as games, movies, and broadcasting between the two countries, and Wang said that he knew our interests well and hoped that both sides will continue to communicate.”Said. Minister Chung requested that the Korean government be lifted, but the Chinese side did not give a positive answer.
At the meeting in November of last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “Minister Kang requested more active cooperation from the Chinese side to revitalize cooperation in the field of cultural contents between the two countries, and Wang said he hopes the two sides will continue to communicate.” In terms of the award phrase, little progress has been made.

The actual outcome of this meeting was to promote the strategic dialogue between Korea and China and the diplomatic and security dialogue (2+2) within the first half of the year. However, this is also an issue that had already agreed on a big direction at the meeting in November of last year, saying, “The two sides have agreed to discuss with each other so that a strategic dialogue between Korea and China can be held in the near future.”

With this result, diplomats continue to question what is the real reason for choosing to go to China this time, despite the misunderstanding that Minister Chung is biased toward China. This is because it is difficult to determine what urgent and critical issues to be resolved in four months and the foreign ministers of the two countries sitting face to face when looking only at the announcement of the results of both sides. There were also considerable concerns over Chung’s visit to China due to the fact that the location of the meeting of the foreign ministers of Korea and China was in Xiamen, amid the conflict between the US and China over the Taiwan issue, and that the Korean foreign ministers chose China as their first travel destination. .
In this regard, Minister Chung and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the two countries made a concerted effort to resume the peace process on the Korean Peninsula as a major achievement of this meeting.did. In particular, in his remarks at all meetings, Minister Chung made a statement that “I request the Chinese government to play an active role so that the peace process on the Korean peninsula can progress substantially.”

However, the North Korean nuclear issue is another subject of conflict between the US and China, with the request for a’active role’ from the Chinese side in a situation where the review of the North Korean policy toward North Korea, a major cooperative partner for the reactivation of the North Korean nuclear issue and the peace process on the Korean Peninsula, has not been completed. There are also concerns about whether it is a thing or not.

President Moon said at the ceremony for conferring the letter of appointment to Minister Chung in February, “I would like to advise you not to rush to achieve tangible results within the given time.” “In order for the peace process on the Korean peninsula to succeed, we need to strengthen the alliance between Korea and the United States,” he emphasized. It was a request not to rush because it is a priority to be in harmony with the United States, but Minister Chung left a remark that could be interpreted as impatience, asking for an active role on the Chinese side, which is in a quarrel with the Biden administration.

Minister Chung met with a correspondent immediately after the “We exchanged very honest opinions on various situations at the global level (with Commissioner Wangi)”Said. Although there was no specific mention, it was interpreted as meaning that the talks were related to the US-China hegemony competition. However, Minister Chung did not comment on a solution to the situation in which the United States and China are struggling to seize’my side’ and fight. In this regard, a senior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “The Chinese side spoke very honestly about their position regarding the US-China relations. We replied that it would be better for the US-China to reduce the factors of conflict and promote cooperation.” .

Chung’s visit to China for the meeting of diplomatic ministers between Korea and China was his first overseas visit after taking office, and was exceptionally high-level diplomacy, who first visited China before the United States. However, it is also evaluated that the benefit of Minister Chung’s visit to China is not clear as a result. This is because there is no progress in security cooperation between South Korea, the US, and Japan, where the importance of the Biden administration is highlighted, and it can be seen that Korea is putting more emphasis on strengthening solidarity with China. Real thingThe Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the 4th in connection with the talks of the diplomatic ministers of Korea and China, “South Korea, which relies on the US for security, but has to rely on the influence of China for the denuclearization of North Korea, is deepening concerns between the US and China.” Reported.

Reporter Jeong Jin-woo [email protected]