Officials from the Foreign Affairs Office in charge of foreign affairs in major regions of China, including Shanghai, Chongqing, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, visited Korea on the 23rd. The list of people to visit Korea, as determined by China, consists of officials from major cities in the top 20 in terms of economic scale. The party secretaries of Shanghai, Chongqing, and Guangdong are members of the Central Politburo, the leadership that leads the Chinese government.
This visit to Korea is being evaluated as a process of restoring the strained Korea-China relationship. Korea-China relations have been continuously experiencing exchanges from high-level officials to local governments since the Korea-China-Japan summit held in Seoul in May of this year. This flow is in contrast to the North Korea-China relationship, which has recently been experiencing an abnormal atmosphere. China has been continuously detecting trends of growing distant as its blood ally North Korea has been in a close military alliance with Russia since last year.
● China forms ‘delegation to Korea’ with officials from 4 major cities
According to a comprehensive report by the Dong-A Ilbo on the 23rd, the Chinese delegation, including the directors of the foreign affairs offices of Shanghai, Chongqing, Zhejiang, and Guangdong provinces, met with Vice Minister Jeong Byeong-won at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and then had dinner. It has been reported that during their visit to Korea, the delegation will visit major domestic companies in the metropolitan area to meet with corporate officials and meet with local government heads in sister city regions. In China, separate from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, each local government has a foreign affairs office that is in charge of foreign affairs and exchanges. It has been reported that the directors of the foreign affairs offices that visited Korea this time are equivalent to directors-general in our government.
It has been reported that the Chinese delegation visited Korea at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when the ‘Korea-China Future-Oriented Exchange Project’, which had been suspended in 2019, was resumed. This project, which was started by the Korean and Chinese governments in 1999 to promote local government exchanges, was suspended in 2019 due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and resumed five years later.
In particular, the fact that officials from major Chinese cities are included in the list of those visiting Korea this time is drawing attention from diplomats. Guangdong Province, known as the “engine of China’s economy,” is the most populous and wealthiest of China’s 31 provinces, with a GDP of 2,580 trillion won last year, accounting for more than 10% of China’s total GDP. Shanghai, known as a “first-tier city,” exceeded $27,000 in GDP per capita last year. In particular, the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, the leadership that leads the Chinese government, consists of 24 members, including seven standing committee members, and the party secretaries of Shanghai, Chongqing, and Guangdong, where the officials visiting Korea this time belong, are members of the Politburo.
● Possibility of Chinese Politburo member’s ‘foreshadowing visit to Korea’
The South Korea-China dialogue, which had been suspended due to the strained South Korea-China relationship and the aftermath of COVID-19, has been restored one after another since the South Korea-China-Japan summit in May of this year. Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yeol visited Beijing at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in May of this year, just before the summit, and held a bilateral meeting. He also held a meeting in Laos at the end of July of this year, where the ASEAN-related foreign ministers’ meeting was held.
There is also talk of the possibility that the foreign ministers of South Korea and China will meet on the occasion of the UN General Assembly to be held in New York, USA, starting on the 23rd of this month (local time). If the meeting is successful, the foreign ministers of South Korea and China will meet every two months starting in May of this year.
There is also speculation in the diplomatic community that this visit by the Foreign Affairs Office officials could be a ‘foreshadowing’ of visits to Korea by the Party secretaries of Shanghai, Chongqing, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, who are members of the Chinese Politburo. As the central government’s dialogue has opened up this year, exchanges between local governments are also continuing. Before this, the Party secretary of Liaoning Province, a center of North Korea-China trade, visited Korea in April, and the Party secretary of Jiangsu Province visited Korea in June, and the deputy secretary of Gansu Province visited Korea in July.
Reporter Kodo Yea [email protected]
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2024-09-23 16:24:25