hankyoreh

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha converses with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December 2019. (Yonhap News)

China’s top diplomat will reportedly be visiting South Korea in mid-October. The timing of the visit by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi is curious, considering that it comes right after a planned visit by his American counterpart, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in early October.

Sources in and close to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) confirmed for the Hankyoreh on Sept. 27 that Korean and Chinese officials are currently arranging Wang’s visit. Just like Pompeo, Wang is reportedly hoping to stop by Korea as one leg of a visit to Japan. Japanese broadcaster NHK previously reported that the Japanese and Chinese governments are talking about having Wang visit Japan as early as October to hold a meeting with Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s new foreign minister. The Japanese press believe that Wang’s Japan visit was basically solidified after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had their first phone call on Sept. 25.

While MOFA officially said that “nothing has been decided” in regard to the schedule of Wang’s visit to Korea, the visit is expected to occur around mid-October. If it does take place, it would be Wang’s first in about 10 months, since last December.

Even more intriguing is the fact that Wang’s visit to South Korea would come so soon after Pompeo’s visit. Pompeo will be arriving in Korea on the heels of a meeting of top diplomats from the quadrilateral strategic grouping of the US, Japan, Australia, and India, called the “Quad,” which will be held in Tokyo in early October. Considering that Pompeo’s discussion with South Korean officials will reportedly focus on issues such as the alliance network and the Quad, which the US is pursuing as a strategy of encirclement against China, Wang’s visit will likely give China a forum to push back against those ideas.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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