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The Chinese national flag flutters in the wind. (Reuters/Yonhap News)

The Chinese government has congratulated President Yoon Suk-yeol on his inauguration and said it hopes the strategic cooperative partnership between South Korea and China will move forward.

“China and the ROK [Republic of Korea] are forever neighbors and each other’s important cooperative partners with extensive common interests,” said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry, on Tuesday.

“This year marks the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two countries,” Zhao continued. “China is ready to work together with the new government and all sectors of the ROK to keep China-ROK strategic cooperative partnership moving in sync with the times, embarking on new levels and delivering more benefits to the two countries and peoples, so as to jointly promote regional peace, stability and prosperity.”

The Global Times, a sister magazine of the Chinese Communist Party's official People's Daily, also shared expectations and concerns for the future of Korea-China relations through an editorial titled “Yoon most likely to handle relations with China well.”

“When reporting Wang's attendance of Yoon's inauguration, many South Korean media mentioned that such a high-level arrangement reflects the importance China attaches to South Korea and China's expectation of the bilateral relations,” the editorial read.

“Unlike some hegemonic countries that force others to take sides, China has always insisted on friendship with all countries on an equal footing, and the respect and importance it attaches to South Korea will not change with the election of a new president,” it continued.

Chinese VP Wang Qishan (right) sits next to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left) at the inauguration ceremony held on the National Assembly lawn on May 10. (pool photo)

Although Beijing expressed willingness to strengthen ties with Seoul, it did draw a line.

“China has displayed huge sincerity to push its ties with South Korea to move forward steadily and develop the ties to a higher level. But China will not make any changes or concessions on sensitive issues involving major interests and concerns,” the Global Times piece stated.

This seems to be alluding to Yoon’s efforts to deviate from the so-called Three Noes policy of the Moon Jae-in government, which could allow the additional deployment of THAAD while also strengthening trilateral security cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan.

Regarding US-South Korea relations, the Global Times stated that “The purpose of wooing and pressuring [by the US] is to urge South Korea to join their ‘anti-China camp’ and make China-South Korea relations an ‘accessory’ to South Korea-US relations, which will inevitably undermine the vital interests of South Korea and impair South Korea's economic development momentum.”

To this point, the editorial added that “As most of the previous South Korean governments had a clear understanding of this, they had always shunned ‘taking sides,’ and strived to achieve a complicated and delicate balance.”

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]