Straight News: What do you think of the ROK National Security Office Director Xu Xun meeting with Yang Jiechi in Tianjin to brief the Chinese side on the progress made by the United States and the ROK on the issue of the Declaration on the End of War?
Special Commentator Liu Heping: In fact, in recent times, the Chinese side has not only repeatedly expressed its welcome attitude toward the dprk and the ROK signing the "Declaration on the End of War," but has also made it very straightforward that China is an important party in peninsula affairs and a party to the "Korean Armistice Agreement," and the relevant departments should maintain communication and consultation with the Chinese side on such matters as promoting peace talks on the Peninsula and issuing a declaration on the end of the war. I think the intention behind this is already very clear, and China wants to participate in the negotiations of the Declaration on the End of the War.
So, in recent years, on the negotiation of the Declaration on the End of War, why has China's attitude shifted from wait-and-see to active participation? I personally believe that the reason for this is not only because the involvement of the Chinese side reflects the respect of the United States and the ROK for history and the status of China as a great power, but because of two other important reasons, one of which is that the Chinese side believes that the situation on the peninsula is no longer just a matter for the DPRK and the ROK, let alone a trilateral affair for the DPRK, the ROK, and the United States, but a matter at the doorstep of China, which is related to the security and stability at the doorstep of China The second is that under the background that the United States is trying its best to win over Japan, Australia, and South Korea to build an "Indo-Pacific strategy" to contain China, China's active participation in peninsula affairs is also a card that can leverage the situation in the Asia-Pacific region to counter the US "Indo-Pacific strategy." To be more specific, I believe that intervening in the situation on the peninsula is a card for China to divide and disintegrate the US alliance strategy, and it can ensure that South Korea can remain neutral to a certain extent when Japan and Australia have completely fallen to the side of the United States, or at least have to be scrupulous in joining the "Indo-Pacific strategy" and intervening in the Situation in the Taiwan Strait.
Therefore, the head of the South Korean National Security Office, Xu Xun, personally came to the door to discuss the signing of the Declaration on the End of war, which is something that the Chinese side is happy to see.
Straight News: In your opinion, since the United States and South Korea have reached a consensus on the publication of the Declaration of the End of War, does that mean that the publication of the Declaration of the End of War is already in sight?
Special Commentator Liu Heping: I noticed that two days after President Moon Jae-in proposed the issuance of the Declaration on the End of War, Kim Yo-jong, vice minister of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, said that this is an interesting proposal and a good idea. According to this, the outside world believes that this means that the DPRK side has a positive attitude towards this.
I don't dare to agree with this, I think that this matter has not been skimmed. We know that as early as the Time of Trump's administration, the parties concerned have thus seen a hurdle that cannot be bypassed. The United States and the ROK insist that the DPRK must first abandon its nuclear weapons before it can issue the "Declaration on the End of War"; the DPRK side believes that the "Declaration on the End of The War" should be issued before abandoning the "Declaration of the End of War"; and the Chinese side believes that it should adopt a "dual-track" strategy, that is, the abandonment of nuclear weapons and the issuance of the "Declaration of the End of War" should be carried out simultaneously. Over the past few years, the United States and the DPRK have been at odds with each other over this. So now, in the first abandonment of nuclear weapons and then the issuance of the "Declaration of end of war", Biden's position is even tougher than Trump's, and North Korea's position on north Korean nuclear negotiations has also undergone major changes, the North Korean side believes that the goal of north Korean nuclear negotiations is no longer North Korea's nuclear abandonment, but only North Korea's "frozen nuclear", that is, the United States and South Korea should recognize and respect the fact that North Korea is already a "nuclear country", in exchange, North Korea will no longer conduct new nuclear tests or no longer expand its own nuclear arsenal. This means that the gap between the two sides is even greater than it was a few years ago.
The North Korean nuclear issue is only a superficial difference between the two sides, and has not yet touched the real essential differences between the two sides. I don't know if you have noticed that the new conditions set by the DPRK side for the negotiations on the "Declaration on the End of War" are that the United States and the ROK must cancel their policy of hostility toward the DPRK. Don't think that this is just a general statement that is not painful or itchy. In fact, not only are the US troops stationed in south Korea and the joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea part of the policy of hostility between the United States and south Korea toward the DPRK, nor is it only the economic sanctions and blockade imposed by the United States and the ROK that are part of the policy of hostility between the United States and the ROK toward the DPRK, but more crucially, the UNITED States and the ROK do not agree with or even want to overthrow the POLITICAL SYSTEM of the DPRK, and the ideological cold war launched by the United States and the ROK against the DPRK is also part of the policy of hostility between the United States and the ROK toward the DPRK.
This also means that the United States and South Korea demand that North Korea completely abandon its nuclear weapons is something that North Korea cannot do, while North Korea's demand that the United States withdraw its troops, the United States and South Korea stop military exercises, and abandon the ideological Cold War is something that the United States and South Korea cannot do. The DPRK, on the other hand, has stated that as long as the hostile policy of the United States and the ROK persists, the Declaration on the End of War is nothing more than an illusion.
The author 丨 Liu Heping, special commentator of Shenzhen Satellite TV's "Live Broadcasting hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan"