Korean envoy gets headwind from Pelosi's visit in China

Foreign Minister Park Jin, left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shake hands in their meeting in Qingdao, Shandong Province, on Tuesday. [MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS]

Foreign Minister Park Jin said he intends to use his visit to China as an opportunity to expand channels of communications between the countries.

“Strategic competition between the United States and China is intensifying, and factors that threaten the international order are only growing,” Park told Korean expats and executives in China in a teleconference on Tuesday, just hours before a meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“Although it is true that bilateral relations face difficult challenges, the government intends to continue to strengthen economic cooperation with China,” Park continued.

“I intend to use my visit to China as an opportunity to start a consultation channel between the two governments, which has been suspended for a while.”

This is Park’s first visit to China since being sworn into office in May. He last met Wang on the sidelines of the G20 ministerial summit in Bali, Indonesia, last month.

The two met for a discussion at around 4 p.m. Tuesday, which was expanded to a dinner at a hotel in Qingdao, Shandong Province, according to the Foreign Ministry.

In addition to cooperation between Beijing and Seoul for denuclearization of North Korea, the two were expected to discuss more controversial issues between the two nations, including the “Chip 4” alliance.

The alliance on semiconductors, proposed by Washington to Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei in March, is scheduled to hold its first meeting in late August or early September.

The Korean government officially accepted the proposal on Monday, the same day Park left for China.

Park had told the press before his departure to Qingdao on Monday that the alliance is “not about isolating a specific country.”

“If China has any concerns [about the alliance], we will be sure to explain our position so as to resolve them,” Park told the press at ministry headquarters in Seoul on Monday.

Beijing has been speaking out against the alliance for months.

But after the Korean government announced its decision to join it on Monday, the Global Times, a state mouthpiece, proposed that Korea play a role for China within the “Chip 4” alliance.

“If South Korea has to join small cliques pieced together by the U.S., the global community will expect to see South Korea truly play a balancing and corrective role,” it said. “This also manifests Seoul's unique value.”

The editorial praised President Yoon Suk-yeol for not meeting with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Seoul after her trip to Taiwan. Pelosi came to Seoul on Aug. 3 after a stop in Taiwan.

The U.S. congresswoman was met by presidents or prime ministers in all the countries she visited on her Asian tour, including Malaysia, Singapore and Japan, but not in Korea. Yoon only spoke with her over the phone.

“As a result, South Korea has won recognition and respect from Chinese society,” said the Global Times in its editorial on Monday. “To a certain extent, this has created a constructive and positive atmosphere for Park's China visit.”

The Park-Wang summit also came ahead of the 30th anniversary of the establishing of Korea-China ties, which falls on Aug. 24.

Park and Wang were scheduled to go hiking together on Wednesday morning, but the plan was cancelled due to bad weather, said the Foreign Ministry.

Park and his delegation were scheduled to return to Seoul on Wednesday.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]