Vice-president on rare trip to win over South Korean leader
Wang Qishan to go to presidential inauguration, signalling Beijing’s focus on its ties with Seoul
The South Korean trip of Vice President Wang Qishan is expected to help Beijing strengthen ties with Seoul as the rivalry between China and the US in Asia is intensifying, diplomatic observers said.
Wang, 73, will lead a delegation to attend president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s inauguration ceremony in Seoul tomorrow as special envoy of President Xi Jinping, the Foreign Ministry announced.
South Korea and China are “important cooperation partners as well as close neighbours”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said. He also expressed hope that bilateral ties would continue to develop.
Chinese leaders have been shunning overseas trips since 2020. The rare trip by a senior leader signals the importance Beijing attaches to relations with Seoul amid tensions with Western countries led by the US and economic slowdown at home.
US President Joe Biden will visit South Korea after the ceremony and meet Yoon on May 21 before travelling to Japan to meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Biden and Kishida will also meet the Australian and Indian prime ministers at a gathering of the Quad security group.
“Obviously, both China and the US are striving to win over South Korea,” said Pang Zhongying, a professor of international relations at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao. China is watching closely how Yoon will balance his foreign policy priorities: enhancing the alliance with the US and improving ties with Japan, but also stabilising relations with China.
“A pro-US president-elect would pose a challenge to China’s foreign policy. The trip of Wang shows China’s strong motive to manage a good relationship with South Korea on fronts from economy to security,” Pang said.
Yoon has taken a harder stance on China than outgoing president Moon Jae-in, who placed considerable importance on ties with the world’s No 2 economy, both in terms of trade and its ability to help negotiate with North Korea.
China is South Korea’s largest trading partner, taking 25 per cent of Korea’s total exports in 2021, pushing bilateral trade to a record US$301.5 billion. But rivalry between Beijing and Washington has posed a dilemma for Seoul, which must balance economic ties with China and its traditional security relationship with the US.
Sun Xingjie, an expert on northeast Asian affairs at Jilin University in China, said: “As it enters the 30th year since China and South Korea established diplomatic relations, China would like to consolidate relations and expand cooperation from trade to technology and security.”
Meanwhile, the inauguration ceremony would provide an opportunity for multilateral exchanges, when mainland diplomats are expected to communicate China’s policies at a time when its “dynamic-zero Covid” approaches have shattered confidence in investing in China.
Gu Su, a political scientist at Nanjing University, said mainland diplomats were likely to bring friendlier messages to world leaders on the occasion, as Beijing emphasised developing closer ties with neighbouring countries.
Mainland officials also pledged to expand opening up amid concerns among foreign businesses over disruptions due to pandemic control measures.
Gu said the importance of South Korea to the US in East Asia was second only to Japan, and Beijing had to consolidate ties with Seoul by boosting economic cooperation.