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Foreign Minister Park Jin of South Korea steps onto the tarmac at Qingdao Airport after landing in China on Aug. 8. (provided by MOFA)

Ahead of a meeting between the top diplomats of South Korea and China on Tuesday, Chinese party-run media published an editorial aimed at keeping in check South Korea’s deployment of THAAD as well as its participation in “Chip 4,” a US-led chip supply chain dialogue.

Beijing does, however, seem to have somewhat softened its stance regarding Chip 4 compared to its attitude in the past.

China’s Global Times published an editorial titled “South Korea naturally wins respect when it adheres to independent diplomacy” in its English edition on Monday as well as its original Chinese edition.

The editorial commented that China positively appraised President Yoon Suk-yeol’s decision not to meet in person with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was in South Korea last week after her controversial stop in Taiwan.

“The Chinese society generally regards [Yoon’s decision] as a demonstration of South Korea's independent diplomacy and rationality toward China, especially in sharp contrast with Japan,” the editorial stated. “As a result, South Korea has won recognition and respect from Chinese society,” it continued.

While Yoon avoided holding direct in-person talks with Pelosi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida welcomed the US lawmaker with a breakfast meeting on Friday.

The editorial then went on to discuss the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in Korea in relation to the “three noes” policy that made up the core of the previous Moon Jae-in administration’s policy on China.

“The issue of THAAD deployment is a major hidden danger that cannot be avoided in China-South Korea ties,” the editorial stated, adding that Beijing is “not against South Korea taking necessary measures to maintain its own security, but they cannot be based on compromising the security interests of China, South Korea’s friendly neighbor.”

The editorial went on to call THAAD a “wedge” Washington is attempting to drive into Northeast Asia, meant to “disturb the region so it can profit from the conflicts.” The pieced included a warning to Seoul, saying, “South Korea should never accept a knife handed by its ‘friends.’”

The editorial also made mention of what’s become known as Chip 4, the US-led initiative aimed at restructuring semiconductor supply chains to become less dependent on China.

“If South Korea has to join small cliques pieced together by the US, the global community will expect to see South Korea truly play a balancing and corrective role. This also manifests Seoul’s unique value,” the editorial read.

Before this, Chinese state-run media argued that, relating to Chip 4, Seoul should have the courage to say “no” to intimidation by the US.

By Choi Hyun-june, Beijing correspondent

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