China's Yang Jiechi may raise complex requests during Busan visit

President Moon Jae-in's chief of staff Noh Young-min, center, a former Korean Ambassador to China, greets Yang Jiechi, left, as China's top diplomat arrives at the Incheon International Airport on March 29, 2018. Korea Times file

By Do Je-hae

High-level talks between Korea and China to facilitate speedy results on primary bilateral issues, particularly Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Korea this year, are gaining speed despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi arrived in Busan late Friday, to kick-off a much-anticipated meeting with President Moon's new national security adviser Suh Hoon, Saturday.

Cheong Wa Dae announced earlier in the week that Yang will be in Busan Aug. 21 and 22 at the invitation of chief of the presidential National Security Office (NSO).

The presidential office has underlined that the meeting is the highest-level in-person meeting among officials of the two countries since the outbreak of COVID-19, adding the two countries have maintained close contacts to discuss bilateral issues despite the pandemic. President Moon and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on the phone May 13, where the Chinese leader expressed his "firm determination to visit Korea this year," according to Cheong Wa Dae.

Yang, a member of China's powerful Politburo, is arriving in Busan following a two-day trip to Singapore, where the chief of the Chinese Communist Party's foreign affairs office met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

The Straits Times of Singapore described Yang's successive visits to Singapore and Korea as a bid by China to "improve ties with its Asian neighbors amid deteriorating relations with the United States."

This is Yang's first visit to Korea since July 2018. The presidential office said Aug. 19 that the two officials will discuss "cooperation on COVID-19 and high-level exchanges and other bilateral issues as well as the Korean Peninsula and international situation."

Push for Xi's visit

Yang's visit comes at a time when public sentiment toward China is still negative following their dispute over Korea's national security decision during the previous Park Geun-hye administration to deploy a U.S. missile defense system here.

Despite the pandemic, the Moon administration has kept its focus on realizing Xi's visit to Korea within the year.

"The most important reason that President Moon wants to have good relations with China is primarily economic, and secondly, North Korea issues, now that U.S.-North Korea relations are virtually frozen. We know that China still has channels of communication with North Korea. Therefore we are hoping that President Xi Jinping will play a more active role in facilitating the resumption of South-North talks and North Korea-U.S. bilateral talks," a senior diplomatic source said. "The other reason is President Xi paid a visit to Pyongyang but he didn't visit Seoul. President Moon visited Beijing twice but he didn't reciprocate. Therefore from protocol point of view, it is time for President Xi to pay a visit to Seoul."

But concerns are rising that Moon's push for Xi's visit is premature when Seoul is not sufficiently equipped with a strategy to meet the complex challenges arising from U.S.-China competition in the region.

"Xi's visit to South Korea, if it materializes, will likely be a double-edged sword for Seoul, which has been feeling the pinch between Washington and Beijing," Lee Seong-hyon, a director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the Sejong Institute, wrote in a recent column.

"The problem is that it is not clear what Moon can give to Xi in return. Since it's unlikely to be economic bargaining, Xi will look to the diplomatic and political sectors. And this is where things could get really complicated. Xi's request could be concrete, touching upon South Korea's position in U.S.-led initiatives such as the Indo-Pacific strategy, Economic Prosperity Network and the Clean Network Initiative. Xi may also ask Moon to formally declare South Korea's joining the China-led Belt and Road Initiative," Lee added.

There are also rising questions among some Koreans about why China is showing an interest in improving ties with Korea and realizing Xi's visit to Korea this year. Xi last visited Korea in July 2014 and has not reciprocated Moon's visit to Beijing in December 2017.

"Compared to Japan's recent provocations against China, South Korea, another US ally, has not followed the U.S. attacks on China," the Global Times of China said in a recent report.

Why Busan?

The choice of Busan as the venue for the meeting has drawn keen media attention.

"The decision for the venue was reached after consultations between the two sides on various factors, such as China's wishes and schedule," a senior presidential aide told reporters, Aug. 19. "As this is the first meeting between Yang and Suh since he took office as the national security adviser, the meeting will hopefully enable frank discussions in a comfortable atmosphere."

With a sudden surge of COVID-19 cases in Korea, there were some concerns that in the local media that Yang's visit may be affected. When the presidential office announced Busan, speculations were raised that this had to do with the pandemic situation in Seoul. But Cheong Wa Dae denied this. "The recent pandemic situation has nothing to do with the choice of the venue."

Yang's previous visit to Korea to meet with Suh's predecessor Chung Eui-yong in 2018 also took place in Busan, where China has a consulate-general.