Breaking the Ice: Can Korea-China Talks Spark a Turnaround in Tense Relations?

Yonhap News

From November 14 to 18, members of the South Korea-China Parliamentary Association, comprising lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties, will visit China to meet Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Foreign Minister, to discuss ways to improve South Korea-China relations.

This visit, the first step in the ‘inter-parliamentary exchange’ agreed upon by the heads of the two countries’ legislatures last year, is being watched to see if it could signal a recovery in South Korea-China relations. National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo had agreed with Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, who visited the National Assembly last year, to strengthen the exchange between the two countries’ legislatures.

According to diplomatic and political circles, on the 13th, lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties, including Kim Han-jung of the Democratic Party, will visit Xi’an, Shanghai, and Beijing from November 14 to 18 at the invitation of China. They will tour the Samsung Electronics factory in Xi’an and listen to the difficulties faced by Korean companies operating locally through meetings in Shanghai and Beijing. In Beijing, they will participate in exchange events with the National People’s Congress and are scheduled to meet with Wang.  

The visit will include 14 members from the Democratic Party, seven from the People Power Party, two independents, and one from the Justice Party (Sim Sang-jung), for a total of 24 lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties. However, the final number of participants may change depending on the situation in the National Assembly and each party.

The delegation, led by Hong Young-pyo, a member of the Democratic Party and chairman of the Korea-China Parliamentary Association, and Kim Hak-yong, a member of the People Power Party and senior vice chairman, includes So Byung-hoon, chairman of the Agriculture, Food, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Committee, Park Jeong, chairman of the Environment and Labor Committee, Lee Jae-jung, chairman of the Industry, Trade, Resources, Small and Medium Venture Business Committee, and Kim Han-jung, opposition party secretary. National Assembly Secretary General Lee Kwang-jae is also expected to accompany them.

Attention is being paid to what impact this visit could have on the currently stalled improvement in South Korea-China relations. Since the controversy over “interference in domestic affairs” by the Chinese Ambassador to South Korea, Xing Haiming, in June, noticeable improvements have not been made.

South Korea needs to communicate with China, which can influence North Korea, as military cooperation between North Korea and Russia has recently intensified. High-level dialogue between the two countries is also desperately needed to boost the less-than-expected effect of China’s reopening (resumption of economic activities).

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited South Korea on the 8th, raised the issue of China’s role in a joint press conference after the South Korea-U.S. foreign ministers meet the next day, saying that the military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is “a matter of great concern to both our countries.” He emphasized that “China should play a constructive role in making North Korea step back from irresponsible and dangerous behavior.”

There is a prediction that China also urgently needs to improve relations with South Korea, which can at least dialogue, as the close cooperation between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan continues in the wake of the U.S. Camp David meeting. Many diplomatic experts analyze, “The situation has become urgent for China in the midst of strengthening cooperation between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, and South Korea also needs China to play a role in restraining the military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.”

As a result, the atmosphere between South Korea and China, which had been heavy, has been gradually easing with the successive meetings between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in September and between Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the occasion of the ‘2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.’  

In particular, attention is focused on the possibility of a South Korea-China summit between President Yoon and President Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, U.S., on the 16th (local time). If the summit is held, it will be the first meeting in about a year since the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November last year.

However, due to the short schedule and many variables of the multilateral meeting, the meeting schedule will likely be confirmed during the APEC period. For now, the diplomatic community evaluates that the Chinese authorities are focusing primarily on the U.S.-China summit between President Joe Biden and President Xi scheduled for the 15th.

If the South Korea-China summit is held, the most likely dates are the 16th or the 18th when the APEC tour ends. President Yoon and President Xi are expected to discuss ways to activate economic and human exchanges between the two countries and the issue of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. There is also a possibility that President Yoon will raise the issue of repatriating North Korean defectors and ask China to play a ‘constructive role.’

By. Lee Sung Hwi & Choi Yoon Sun