South Korea seeks to appease China

From left, Industry and Trade Minister Moon Sung-wook, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol enter a briefing room of the foreign ministry in Seoul, Tuesday, for an online joint briefing on the results of last week's summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden. Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

The government has stepped up efforts to prevent any fallout from President Moon Jae-in's summit with U.S. President Joe Biden adversely affecting South Korea's ties with China, with the foreign minister saying their post-summit statement touching on Taiwan was "theoretical and principled."

President Moon and his U.S. counterpart held their first in-person meeting at the White House last week and their joint statement referred to the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. It also referred to freedom of navigation and overflights in the South China Sea and beyond.

Despite not directly mentioning China, it was seen as a sign that South Korea agreed with the U.S.'s anti-China campaign, and this drew a strong response from Beijing.

"The joint statement mentioned issues related to Taiwan and the South China Sea. The Taiwan question is China's internal affair. It bears on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and allows no interference by external forces. We urge the relevant countries to speak and act prudentially on the Taiwan question and refrain from playing with fire," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a briefing, Monday.

"With regard to the South China Sea issue, all countries enjoy the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, and there is no problem with it. Relevant countries know this very clearly."

In response, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said the South Korean government fully recognized the special characteristics of the China-Taiwan relations.

"The government's position on the issue remains unchanged," Chung said during a joint ministerial briefing on the Moon-Biden summit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tuesday.

"But the reference to the Taiwan Strait was on a theoretical and principled level. I am once again telling you that peace and stability are a common wish for regional partners."

The joint statement also brought up the human rights situation in North Korea, but failed to mention that of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

"Although China's human rights issue has been discussed by the international community, the South Korean government has refrained from taking issue with it, considering our special ties with Beijing," the foreign minister said.

In the wake of China's strong response to the joint statement, there is growing speculation that the Chinese government may again inflict economic retaliation against South Korea as it did when Seoul permitted the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery on the Korean Peninsula. Beijing claims that the anti-missile shield is aimed at spying on its military maneuvers and hurting its security interests.

Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming delivers a congratulatory speech at a seminar on 100 years of China's Communist Party and China's development in Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Chinese Embassy to Korea

However, Cheong Wa Dae dismissed the conjecture, saying it was an excessively premature prediction.

"China is geographically an adjacent country and a very important economic partner. In that sense, the two countries are trying to strengthen their mutually reciprocal ties," Lee Ho-seung, Moon's chief of staff for policy, said in a radio interview, Tuesday.

With regard to North Korea, Chung said the summit paved the way for reviving the stalled North Korean nuclear negotiations as Washington delivered a message showing it was ready to talk with Pyongyang, hoping to receive a positive response.

"Moon and Biden agreed to maintain the continuity of diplomacy and dialogue with North Korea by acknowledging previous respective statements from the U.S. and North Korea, and South and North Korea. In addition, Biden expressed his support for inter-Korean talks and cooperation, which has laid the foundation for a virtuous circle between inter-Korean relations and U.S.-North Korea ties," Chung said.

"In particular, the appointment of the U.S. special envoy for North Korea (Sung Kim) is an apparent signal that Washington is prepared to sit down with Pyongyang given that Kim is a figure drawing positive responses from the North."

Kim is a career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea. He was also the U.S. special representative for North Korea between 2014 and 2016 under the Barack Obama administration.

"We hope North Korea will positively respond in the near future," Chung added.

In related news, Moon Chung-in, the chairman of the Sejong Institute and former security and foreign affairs adviser to President Moon, also said Tuesday that North Korea may approach the South to figure out what the new U.S. policy on Pyongyang was.

"It is very likely that North Korea will come. If it is not to the U.S. directly, maybe it will come to South Korea," he said during a virtual forum co-hosted by the Sejong Institute and the United States Institute of Peace.