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Cho Hyun, South Korea’s foreign minister, departs for the United States via Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport on September 8. / Source: Yonhap News

Cho Hyun, South Korea’s foreign minister, will visit China this week ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled for late October. This marks Cho’s first trip to China since taking office, where he is expected to meet with Wang Yi, director of the Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Office and foreign minister, to discuss key bilateral issues.

According to diplomatic sources on September 14, Cho is set to travel to Beijing around September 17 for talks with his Chinese counterpart. The two sides are expected to focus on President Xi Jinping’s possible attendance at APEC and his potential visit to South Korea, as well as broader bilateral ties.

Under U.S. strategic pressure, China is likely to highlight the importance of closer cooperation and stronger friendship with Seoul. In their first phone call in July, Cho stressed that “South Korea highly values its relations with China, and hopes to promote strategic partnership through close high-level exchanges.” At the time, Wang countered Washington’s influence by saying that Seoul-Beijing relations “should not be restricted by any third country” and urged Seoul to keep its China policy “stable, sustainable and predictable.”

The two ministers are also expected to touch on China’s unapproved installation of structures in the West Sea. In a July interview with The Washington Post, Cho pointedly remarked that “in Northeast Asia, China has been somewhat problematic for its neighbors,” a comment widely interpreted as a reference to the issue.

North Korea will also be on the agenda. Questions have arisen over Beijing’s stance after Xi made no mention of denuclearization during his summit with Kim Jong Un earlier this month on the occasion of China’s Victory Day. Cho is expected to reaffirm Seoul and Beijing’s shared commitment to “the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” while pressing China to play a constructive role.