Preface
May 13, Beijing time, is a day of great significance for China and South Korea.
After a six-year period of ice, China and South Korea are finally showing signs of détente.
ROK Foreign Minister Cho Doi-yeol visited China and held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing.
Reference News - 2024-05-14 - "South Korean Foreign Minister Visits China to Seek to Promote the Development of Relations"
During the four-hour talks, the two sides exchanged information on the economic and high-level levels of the two countries and exchanged views.
In the end, the two sides reached an agreement, and China finally gave South Korea what it wanted.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Do-yeol has also made a commitment to China, so what kind of consensus have the two sides reached?
The foreign ministers of China and South Korea talked, what does South Korea want?
Four months after taking office, Zhao paid a visit to China on May 13 this year.
He is also the first person from South Korea to visit China in six years, so the Chinese side attaches great importance to this meeting.
After all, South Korea is China's neighbor, and China has always adhered to a policy of friendship with its neighbors.
Therefore, it is also very important to ease relations between China and South Korea.
The talks, which lasted for four hours, showed that the two sides had very full exchanges.
According to some Korean media reports, the word "cooperation" was mentioned many times in Zhao Duiyeol's speech.
The Paper——2024-05-15——"South Korean Foreign Minister's Visit to China: China-South Korea Relations Take a Positive Step, Two Core Issues Still Need Attention"
During the talks, both China and the ROK expressed a common desire for cooperation.
In particular, China is now vigorously developing new productive forces in the economic and trade cooperation between China and the ROK, and will also expand its opening up.
So this is undoubtedly a very good opportunity for South Korea.
In the face of strengthening economic and trade cooperation between China and South Korea, Zhao Duilie also said that during his visit to China, the government's support for investment in China is an important purpose.
In addition to this, there is a very important topic for both sides to talk.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tei-yeol said that South Korea wants to ask China for assistance on the North Korean nuclear issue.
However, China's attitude has always been very clear, and China has always called for a calm and objective approach.
To put it simply, if you can speak well, you can speak well.
It is undeniable that China and South Korea have not reached an agreement on many issues, such as the North Korean nuclear issue and the DPRK-Russia military relationship, and there are many differences between the two sides.
Therefore, there are two extremely important points in whether China-South Korea relations can be smoothly eased.
One is whether South Korea can respect China's core interests.
And then there is whether South Korea chooses between the United States and Japan to target China.
Pro-American, pro-Japanese and pro-China are drifting away
After all, the reason why relations between China and South Korea have become tense and stagnant in recent years.
In addition to the impact of the epidemic, the most important thing is the coming to power of the Yoon Suk-yeol government.
After he came to power, he changed his foreign policy and began to deliberately change the direction of his partners.
Wooing the United States and Japan, the United States and Japan have always resisted and suppressed China.
Especially on the Taiwan issue, the United States and Japan always want to intervene.
South Korea, on the other hand, has completely locked itself in a stalemate with China on this issue in order to follow the United States.
Beijing Daily——2023-05-26——"Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming: The current China-South Korea relations are not good, and there is a risk of further deterioration"
Until 2023, the situation in China-South Korea relations remains extremely tense.
Although China has always wanted to be a friendly neighbor with South Korea, South Korea does not have the desire to do so.
Even Ambassador Xing Haiming was interviewed by Zonghan on economic, trade and people-to-people exchanges.
At one point, it was speculated that there was a risk of further deterioration in relations between China and South Korea.
But what did South Korea get for being pro-American and pro-Japanese?
In fact, diplomacy between South Korea and the United States has not received much substantive treatment.
Therefore, after the resumption of communication between China and Western countries, South Korea also hurriedly threw an olive branch to China.
After all, China is the key to South Korea's nuclear solution.
Based on this background, some political leaders in South Korea who are aware of the overall situation have also begun to call for friendship with China.
Global Network——2024-05-14——"Former South Korean Minister of Justice landed on Dokdo to denounce the Yoon Suk-yeol government: "It is not only pro-Japan, but also pro-Japanese and pro-Japanese!" ”》
Cho Kook, the former minister of justice of South Korea, went directly to Dokdo, Japan, and hated the pro-Japanese government of Yoon Suk-yeol.
Claiming that the current South Korean government is not pro-Japanese at all, it is simply obedient to Japan.
It can be seen that the Yoon Suk-yeol government has aroused the anger of some people.
This incident has also put Japan-South Korea relations into an embarrassing situation.
In the two years since Yoon Suk-yeol took office, whether in foreign or domestic affairs, it has nothing to do with his ambitions.
South Korea is not only not getting better under his leadership, but even worsening.
And just ten days after Yoon Suk-yeol took office, US President Joe Biden visited South Korea, which eventually led to a stiffness in Sino-South Korean relations.
But fortunately, China and South Korea are finally about to usher in a détente, and in fact, there is still a very important issue for Zhao Duilie's visit to China.
China-ROK relations are improving
Global Times——2024-05-14——"South Korea Hopes to Hold China-Japan-ROK Leaders' Meeting"
Cho said that he hoped to deliberately hold a meeting of the leaders of China, Japan and the ROK at the end of May.
The meeting has been put on hold since 2019 because of relations and political tensions between China and South Korea.
The 8th China-Japan-Korea Industrial Summit Chamber of Commerce will be held in Seoul.
For South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, this is undoubtedly a test of his diplomacy.
After all, in the Korean parliamentary election in April, Yoon Suk-yeol lost very completely.
It also shows how much the Korean people have opinions about him.
Nanfang Daily——2024-05-15——China-South Korea Relations Usher in an Opportunity to Improve
In fact, there is no fundamental conflict of interest between China and South Korea.
Therefore, China and the ROK should fully communicate and strengthen communication to eliminate previous misunderstandings.
Cooperation with China is also an inevitable trend to promote the development of South Korea.
From an economic point of view, the bilateral trade volume exceeded $300 billion last year.
China has also been South Korea's largest trading partner for 20 consecutive years.
From a humanistic point of view, China and South Korea also have close contacts.
For example, the number of tourists from China and South Korea visiting each other's countries is on the rise.
It is the first time in four years that it has exceeded one million people.
In addition, the total number of Korean students studying abroad is nearly 70,000 from China alone.
China has also become the country with the largest number of students choosing to study in South Korea.
Therefore, it is a good choice for China and South Korea to have friendly exchanges.
Cho also made a commitment to the Chinese side, expressing South Korea's strong desire to cooperate with China.
Coupled with the current situation, only when China-ROK relations improve, can the China-Japan-ROK meeting be held smoothly and economic diplomacy be more peaceful and stable.