ed Seoul-China military ties

Gen. Jung Seung-jo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, flew to Beijing on a C-130 military transport plane Tuesday for the first official visit to China by a South Korean military chief there in six years. That China has allowed a South Korean military plane to enter its airspace is emblematic of deepening military ties between the neighboring countries, as a Defense Ministry official pointed out.

Jung agreed with his Chinese counterpart Gen. Fang Fenghui to strengthen military exchanges and cooperation to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The two military chiefs, in particular, concurred on the need to beef up their strategic cooperation in the military. Specifically, they concurred on expanding military communication channels, including a hotline between the military chiefs, and regularize conferences to be attended by working-level military officers to discuss peacekeeping operations and other international issues.

We welcome increased military cooperation between Seoul and Beijing, the former Korean War enemies, and expect it to help rein in North Korea’s provocations. Especially notable is that the Chinese military chief strongly called for denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. This comes on the heels of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s demand for the North’s denuclearization last month, when Choe Ryong-hae, the reclusive country’s special envoy, visited Beijing.

Gen. Fang’s emphasis on the nuclear-free peninsula is quite meaningful, given that the Chinese military has, so far, refrained from mentioning Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development programs. Hopefully, North Korea will be aware of the fact that its possession of nuclear weapons won’t guarantee the survival of its isolated regime and rather, could lead to its collapse.

Seoul-Beijing military relations are still in their infancy, taking into consideration that the neighboring countries have been deepening cooperation in most other areas, including business and culture, since the establishment of their diplomatic ties in 1992. And it may be natural that they remain cautious about military cooperation, given that South Korea is a strong ally of the United States and North Korea has special relations with China under their mutual aid treaty.

But it’s critical that South Korea and China maintain closer military ties to prevent unintended conflicts on the peninsula in the event of contingencies, for an emergency situation in North Korea. Beijing, for its part, seems to be capitalizing on stepped-up military ties with Seoul in its hopes to stably manage the peninsula where tensions have built up. Whatever the situation may be, we hope that the increased military cooperation between the two countries will be the first step toward creating a peaceful order in Northeast Asia.