Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a press conference in Beijing, in this March 7 photo. AFP-Yonhap
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a press conference in Beijing, in this March 7 photo. AFP-Yonhap


Beijing seeks to pull Seoul from Washington’s regional alliance: experts

By Jung Da-min
South Korea is facing a dilemma over how to strike a strategic balance between the United States and China as Beijing is set to increase its pressure on Seoul after Washington recently expressed its wish to bring more of its allies into the U.S.-led intelligence sharing alliance, known as “Five Eyes.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s planned visit to the South next week is, in this regard, interpreted as an attempt to urge Seoul to side with Beijing following signs of South Korea drawing closer to China’s main rival, the U.S., especially in security sector, diplomatic watchers here said.

According to the foreign ministry, Tuesday, Wang will visit Seoul Sept. 14 and 15 for talks with his counterpart Chung Eui-yong. He may also meet with President Moon Jae-in.

His last visit to South Korea took place last November, and the two foreign ministers had their last in-person meeting in April in China’s Xiamen.

The ministry said during Wang’s visit, the ministers will seek to improve cooperation for future-oriented relations between the two countries ahead of the 30th anniversary of the forging of diplomatic ties next year.

But there is wide speculation among diplomatic analysts here that Wang’s visit to Seoul is China’s move to check the U.S. by solidifying cooperative relations with South Korea amid intensifying rivalry between the two superpowers.

Park Won-gon, a professor with Ewha Womans University’s Department of North Korea Studies, said recent international developments, especially the U.S. withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan has made China nervous, especially after President Joe Biden said he would not continue the unending war there but rather focus on the growing competition between his country, China and Russia.

“Beijing’s biggest concern is the Biden administration’s hardline policy toward China. … Withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan, the U.S. said it will instead put more focus on the security situation in Northeast Asia, referring to threats posed by China, Russia and North Korea. When the main target of the U.S. is China, China wants to break the weakest link in the U.S. alliance network in the region, meaning South Korea,” Park said.
Experts said the South Korean government is officially maintaining strategic ambiguity between China and the U.S. but recent diplomatic moves by Seoul were focused on strengthening its alliance with Washington, and this may have made Beijing nervous.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives submitted a bill for the National Defense Authorization for the 2022 fiscal year, asking the U.S. administration to consider expanding the intelligence-sharing network of the Five Eyes countries to include four more countries including South Korea.

The intelligence-sharing alliance currently consists of the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Although South Korea joining the Five Eyes in the near future is unlikely considering other factors such as being accepted by the four other constituent countries and Seoul’s diplomatic challenges in keeping a balance between the U.S. and China, Washington’s message on strengthening the regional alliance against China is inciting Beijing to encourage the South to break away from the alliance, according to experts.

In a joint statement following the summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C., May 21, the two mentioned “preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” a very sensitive issue for China that sees Taipei as part of its “One China” policy.
“In the joint statement at the May 21 summit, the South Korean government stood together with the U.S. to raise the issue with China on sensitive issues such as its territorial disputes with Taiwan in the South China Sea, in accordance with the liberal international order and principles,” said Shin Beom-chul, director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.

Shin said South Korea should have its own principles in the situation where it is receiving pressure from both the U.S. and China.
“However, the government is still officially keeping a strategic ambiguity, leaving room for China to seek to pull Seoul away from the U.S. alliance,” Park said.


‘Chinese FM’s visit to South Korea is to curb US influence’
Source: Buhay Kapa PH