South Korea, China hold talks in first-ever highest-level meeting since COVID-19 outbreak

On August 22, South Korea held bilateral talks with China. China’s top diplomat, a state councillor paid the first-ever highest-level visit since the coronavirus outbreak last year in China's Wuhan, Hubei province. Member of Communist Party Politburo, Yang Jiechi, met with South Korea’s national security adviser Suh Hoon to discuss COVID-19 pandemic situation, diplomatic relations between the two nations and the situation in Korean Peninsula at southern port city of Busan, South Korean government said in a statement. 

In a one day visit, the Chinese envoy aimed to resume the halted denuclearisation negotiations involving North Korea in a meeting with his South Korean counterpart held last in 2014. The director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, Yang, brought up the discussions about the potential trip by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Seoul, presidential spokesman Kang Min-Seok said in a state press briefing. The Chinese envoy also exchanged dialogues about the annual trilateral summit involving Japan, and economic ties between the two nations, he added. Further, for peace and stability, the two sides discussed about strengthening their strategic communication and make joint efforts to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula. 

Both sides have been working to make it possible for President Xi to visit at an appropriate time when the COVID-19 situation stabilizes and fosters such conditions, Kang said during the press conference.

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Deployment of US anti-missile system

Earlier, in July, the deputy ministers of the two nations had announced to hold annual economic cooperation talks, South Korea’s state TV media reported. However, amid the backdrop of the escalating China-US trade and security tensions over Seoul’s plans to allow the deployment of a US anti-missile system, the talks were suspended. However, last year, the deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, Lieutenant-General Shao Yuanming held a meeting with South Korean defense vice-minister Park Jae-min in Beijing to deepen the relations between both the countries. In a three day meeting on Asia-Pacific security and defense, China and South Korea held talks on the sidelines of the Xiangshan Forum, as per reports.

The defense ministry in Seoul stressed in a press conference that the two nations shared the view that China’s constructive role, along with South Korea’s efforts, was extremely crucial for the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace. Both sides had then agreed to push for high-level visits of the envoy to each other countries, and also set up more hotlines between their air and naval forces.  Seoul’s decision to deploy the American Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system (THAAD) had strained the bilateral relations between China and South Korea. 

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(Image Credit: AP)