Moon's next mission is to touch on Seoul-Beijing friction
By Jun Ji-hye
After President Moon Jae-in wrapped up his first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, attention is now turning to talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Moon and Xi are likely to hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the G20 Summit scheduled for July 7 and 8 in Germany.
If accomplished, this will be their first-ever dialogue since Moon’s May 10 inauguration and could be an opportunity to improve strained bilateral relations, which mostly result from the ongoing deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here.
Experts said Sunday that amid a pile of thorny issues facing South Korea and China, Moon will need to deal with relations with Beijing from a cautious and long-term perspective rather than rushing to make a breakthrough.
Park Won-gon, a professor of international relations at Handong Global University, said that Moon’s summit with Trump went well in general neither officially mentioned the THAAD issue ― the biggest question in Seoul-Beijing relations ― during or after their summit,.
“This means that Seoul and Washington will stick to their existing policies, meaning that they will continue to deploy the system,” Park said. “China will continue to complain about these.”
Since the former Park Geun-hye government announced its decision to host the anti-missile system in July last year, China has been strongly opposed to the installation, claiming it seriously harms the country’s national interests. Beijing has taken various economic and cultural retaliatory actions, including cutting off mutual exchanges.
While mention of the THAAD issue did not take place during the summit, Moon made it clear during his meeting with leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives that Seoul does not intend to withdraw the THAAD deployment agreement as it was reached based on the alliance to protect the lives of the South Korean people and U.S. forces in Korea.
“I have repeatedly clarified that my government will not treat it lightly simply because the agreement was reached by the former administration,” Moon was quoted as saying by his spokesman.
Moon’s statement indicated that the THAAD issue could continue to be disputed with China as the country’s position has been very clear ― it wants the cancellation of the deployment.
Moon and Trump also emphasized the importance of trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan in a joint statement issued after their summit.
“This apparently put pressure on China as well,” Park said, noting that, “Moon will be meeting Xi in a strained situation.”
What could make things more difficult for Moon is the worsening relations between Washington and Beijing, Park added.
“As there is not much time left until the G20 Summit in Germany, both Moon and Xi apparently know they will be unable to go into details regarding various challenges,” Park said.
The professor added that the Moon government must establish a long-term policy in dealing with China and provide clear justification regarding the THAAD issue, allowing Beijing to devise an exit strategy.
Lee Myun-woo, a senior researcher at the Seoul-based think tank, the Sejong Institute, also said Moon needs to keep adhering to principles as talks with Beijing will be a long process.
Lee said Moon needs to tell Xi that enhancing cooperation with Washington and Tokyo is not to isolate China but to respond to evolving threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.