The leaders of South Korea and China yesterday said that they look forward to improved ties following a protracted disagreement over the deployment of a US anti-missile system that Beijing considers a threat.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that while the sides might have felt “disappointed toward each other for a while,” their shared culture and history prevented them from becoming completely estranged.
“It is hoped that South Korea’s dream becomes helpful for China, as China’s dream becomes an opportunity for South Korea,” Moon said in opening remarks before reporters were ushered from the room.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In his opening comments at the meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi described bilateral ties as “a substantial relationship in the world and an influential relationship among world nations.”
Ties between the neighbors nosedived in 2017 after Seoul accepted the placement of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system in South Korea. Beijing insists its real purpose is to use its powerful radars to peer deep into its territory, rather than to warn of North Korean missile launches and shoot them down.
A furious China launched an unofficial boycott of everything from Chinese tour group visits to South Korea to South Korean television shows, boy bands and other cultural products.
However, it was unable to force South Korea to remove the system and its fury appears to have subsided somewhat amid its trade dispute with the US and tensions elsewhere in Asia.
South Korea now hopes to have Xi visit next year and is also eager to have Beijing use its influence with North Korea to give a jolt to deadlocked denuclearization talks.
While South Korea appreciates the part China has played in that effort, the “current recent situations in which the talks between the United States and North Korea are stalled and tensions on the Korean Peninsula have become heightened are certainly not favorable, not only for South Korea and China, but also for North Korea,” Moon said in his opening comments.
“I hope that we continue to closely cooperate so that the opportunities we have gained with difficulty can come to fruition,” he said.
Separately, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Xi in Beijing before flying to the southwestern city of Chengdu to join a trilateral meeting today, which Moon is also to attend.
In a press briefing after the Xi-Abe meeting, Masato Otaka — spokesman for the Japanese minister of foreign affairs — said that Abe “urged China to continue its self-restraint” over Hong Kong and expressed “hope for an early resolution of the situation.”
Abe and Xi also discussed North Korea and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the spokesman said, and Xi “asked for support” for a joint China-Russia draft UN resolution that proposed easing sanctions against the nuclear-armed state.
“Mr Abe reiterated that he is very much concerned about the situation ... [and] mentioned that under the ‘one country, two systems,’ Hong Kong should continue to be free and open and to be able to enjoy its development,” Otaka said.
Additional reporting by AFP
The domestically designed Teng Yun 2 drone passed development milestones over the weekend, flying for more than 10 hours straight and circling Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in the longest flight of an indigenous uncrewed combat aerial vehicle. Developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the Teng Yun 2, or “Cloud Rider” (騰雲二型), recorded its longest flight yet over the weekend, after a three-hour test flight last month, followed by five and seven-hour stretches in the air. The Teng Yun 2 No. 1812 departed from Chiashan Air Base in Hualien County at 6:46pm on Saturday and flew on a
OVER THE HUMP: In a seven-day period ending on Wednesday, the nation reported 366,628 new cases, down 19 percent from the 451,358 reported in the previous week The nation might further open up to more arrivals in the next two months, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 48,283 new local COVID-19 cases, down from more than 50,000 in the previous few days. Taiwan on Wednesday last week introduced a plan to allow up to 25,000 arrivals per week as part of efforts to gradually reopen borders, which includes reducing mandatory quarantines for inbound travelers from seven to three days, followed by four days in “self-initiated epidemic prevention.” The quota covers inbound Taiwanese arrivals, businesspeople and migrant workers. Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it is monitoring Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship movements near Taiwan, after the Japanese Ministry of Defense disclosed that Chinese vessels made a rare voyage between Yilan County and Japan’s Yonaguni. The Japanese ministry on Wednesday said that two Chinese navy ships on Tuesday diverted from their usual route of entering the Pacific Ocean via the Miyako Strait and for the first time traveled there between Yilan and Yonaguni. The Japan Self-Defense Forces said that it picked up the presence of China’s Type-056A Jiangdao-class corvette 220km north of Yonaguni at 9am on Tuesday. The
A slew of new measures are to take effect on Friday, including nationwide bring-your-own-cup discounts. The new rule requires chain beverage shops to offer discounts of at least NT$5 (US$0.17) to customers who bring their own cups, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said. The policy would apply to more than 50,000 chain retail locations, including beverage shops, convenience stores, fast-food restaurants and supermarkets. It aims to cut down on waste from single-use plastic cups, more than 2.2 billion of which were used in Taiwan in 2020, the agency said. For convenience, the EPA said it has asked retailers to display signs stating how
RSS