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Chinese envoy's social media suggests new approach to Seoul-Beijing relations

Published: 08 Jan. 2025, 16:19

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing walks into the Seoul Government Complex in Jongno District, central Seoul on Dec. 30, 2024. [YONHAP]

China's newly appointed ambassador to Korea, Dai Bing, has engaged in a new form of public diplomacy with the Korean public through his active use of social media, in contrast to his predecessors.

This comes as the Chinese Foreign Ministry adopts a subtly different tact toward North Korea's armed provocations in what appears to be an attempt to pull Seoul closer to Beijing amid the former's political uncertainty in the wake of the Yoon Suk Yeol impeachment.

Dai, who took office on Dec. 27, posted three messages on X, formerly Twitter, over about ten days: a written speech immediately after his taking office, an expression of condolences after the Jeju Air crash and his presentation of credentials to acting President Choi Sang-mok.

“China and the ROK are friendly neighbors and important partners,” Dai wrote most recently on X, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea. “And we have been committed to advancing our strategic cooperative partnership. I have great belief in the wisdom and capability of the ROK people to address their current challenges, and I sincerely wish for the stability, development, and prosperity of the ROK and its people.”

Dai, 57, served in several diplomatic posts after joining China's foreign service in 1995, including at the Chinese embassies in Singapore and South Africa, before serving as China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN since 2020.

According to the Chinese embassy in Korea on Wednesday, the embassy operates social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram and WeChat, but this is the first time it has created an X account for the ambassador to use as a main communication channel.

“To strengthen relations with South Korea and quickly convey our position, we have started X activities for the first time since Ambassador Dai’s appointment,” an embassy official said. “We hope that the number of followers will increase.”

That Dai even arrived in Seoul as scheduled following his appointment last November is interpreted as a good omen for South Korea-China relations.

Some had speculated that Beijing could delay the appointment of its ambassador to South Korea after the process of appointing former presidential chief of staff Kim Dae-ki as the new South Korean ambassador to China was suspended due to Yoon's impeachment.

China’s relationship with North Korea has appeared to sour in recent months, with Pyongyang and Beijing marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations last year without any large-scale celebrations.

When North Korea launched its first ballistic missile of the year on Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry simply said it had “no new comment.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry typically responds to North Korean provocations by calling on "each party to work toward peace and stability" — standing with North Korea while shifting responsibility to South Korea and the United States.

That Beijing did not repeat this roundabout response is seen as unusual.

BY PARK HYUN-JU, LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]