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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Minjoo Party lawmaker Park Byeong-seok

During his first meeting with the delegation sent by the newly launched South Korean government, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly praised the political philosophy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in and highlighted the importance of South Korea-China relations.

During a meeting with reporters in Beijing on May 15, Minjoo Party lawmaker Park Byeong-seok, who visited China as the head of the South Korean delegation to the Belt and Road Summit for economic cooperation, said that he had had a meeting with Xi during a dinner that Xi had organized. “Xi said he was extremely satisfied with his telephone conversation with President Moon Jae-in, that he thought highly of Moon’s political philosophy and ideology and that they had many things in common. He also emphasized that South Korea-China relations must be highly valued and that developing their bilateral relations is extremely important not only for them but also for the peace of Asia and the world beyond,” Park said.

Xi’s remarks are being taken as an appeal not to let South Korea-China relations be harmed any further by the intensifying conflict over the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea. They also appear to be designed to reset bilateral relations with the new Moon administration. Xi reportedly did not bring up the THAAD issue on May 15, which could have been the source of disagreement. “I got the feeling that Xi has a basic trust in President Moon. He also proposed that we confidently expand the scope of our mutual interests to include the joint development not only of our respective countries but also Asia as a whole,” Park said.

There were also reports that the Chinese gave the South Korean delegation red carpet treatment. Considerable allowances were made for the South Koreans in regard to their schedule and seating (especially considering that the decision to attend was made suddenly, just three days before the opening ceremony), apparently sending a message that China wants to repair its relations with South Korea. Park, who attended as the head of the South Korean government delegation, had a separate meeting with Xi on the evening of May 14 (though this only lasted for 10 minutes), and he was also planning to meet Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China’s highest ranking diplomat, on the evening of May 15. On May 15, Park also had lunch with former Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, a veteran of the Chinese diplomatic community. Park effectively played the role of special envoy, but it’s possible that the term “special envoy” was avoided because the Moon administration is already planning to send envoys to the US, China, Russia and Japan.

While China made an overture to repair relations with South Korea, a certain degree of progress has already been made on the THAAD deployment, to which China remains staunchly opposed. Under these circumstances, the next question is whether South Korea and China can find some way to turn the situation around.

By Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent

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