War of nerves growing between Yoon and Xi over state visit

May 12, 2022, 08:51 am

AsiaToday reporter Lee Wook-jae

South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol expressed hope that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit South Korea after Xi invited Yoon to visit China.

A war of nerves has been brewing between the two countries following the failure of Xi’s Seoul visit due to the pandemic. The launch of the Yoon administration appears to be sparking a diplomatic battle between South Korea and its neighbors.

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, one of the closest aides to Xi, extended the invitation during a meeting with Yoon on Tuesday at the new presidential office in Yongsan in Seoul. China, which normally sends a deputy prime minister-level official to a South Korean president’s inauguration ceremony, has shown its good faith diplomatically by sending the highest-ranking Chinese official ever to attend the ceremony.

Yoon expressed gratitude for the invitation, while expressing hope for Xi’s Seoul visit. Since 2014, Xi has not visited South Korea while former President Moon Jae-in visited China twice during his term. As many pointed out that it was against diplomatic customs, Yoon suggested Xi’s Seoul visit.

Political observers say the two countries are now engaged in a subtle war of nerves over the order of state visits. In fact, the Chinese state-run People’s Daily did not mention Xi’s invitation while reporting on the interview between Wang and Yoon.

The unusual open announcement of five suggestions by Wang for Seoul-China relations at the meeting with Yoon is also seen as a high-level diplomatic battle between the two countries. Wang suggested to strengthen strategic communication, to deepen practical cooperation, to promote friendship between the people of both countries, to increase multilateral coordination and to strengthen cooperation with China on Korean Peninsula issues.

Besides, Wang’s remark of “strengthening cooperation with China on Korean Peninsula issues while appropriately handling sensitive issues” is read as emphasizing the bilateral cooperation externally, but it is meant to keep Seoul from getting closer to Washington amid an intensifying U.S.-China rivalry.

The term “sensitive issues” is an expression China uses when referring to the THAAD issue. This is seemingly aimed at Yoon’s previous mentioning of additional deployment of THAAD during his presidential campaign.

China’s unusual move came just ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s scheduled visit to Seoul. Amid an intensifying U.S.-China rivalry, the Yoon-Biden summit is apparently putting pressure on China. Besides, China seems to be concerned with the fact that Yoon sent a “policy consultative group’ to the United States and Japan, excluding China, when he was elected, which can be seen as a move to strengthen cooperation with U.S. and Japan.

As if aware of it, Wang said that he respected the holding of the trilateral meeting between Korea, China and Japan.

#Xi Jinping #Wang Qishan #Yoon Suk-yeol #visit #China