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Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is guiding the seating after taking a commemorative photo ahead of the meeting with Wang Yi, State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building on Sejong-daero, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 4th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Wang Yi, China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister in charge of diplomacy, is coordinating the schedule and format for a visit to South Korea in October. With U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo scheduled to visit South Korea in early next month, Wang Yi is also planning a visit to South Korea in conjunction with his trip to Japan to meet newly appointed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

According to diplomatic sources on the 27th, South Korean and Chinese diplomatic authorities are coordinating the specific timing and format of Wang Yi's visit to South Korea in October. A diplomatic source said, "The schedule for Wang Yi's visit to South Korea has not been finalized," adding that this is due to the ongoing calls for the necessity of high-level face-to-face diplomacy. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially stated, "Nothing has been decided yet."

If Wang Yi's visit is finally confirmed, it will be about 10 months since December last year. During the Park Geun-hye administration, Wang Yi did not visit South Korea due to the deployment of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), but he visited South Korea last December after 4 years and 8 months, holding a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and meeting President Moon Jae-in.

Attention in diplomatic circles is focused on the fact that Wang Yi's visit will take place immediately after Pompeo's visit. Next month, Pompeo is likely to request South Korea's participation in the collective security framework "Quad," promoted by the Trump administration, and the Economic Prosperity Network (EPN), an anti-China economic bloc frequently raised in the U.S. despite the spread of COVID-19, remains a sensitive issue for the Chinese government. On the 28th, Marshall Billingslea, U.S. State Department Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control, who will meet with Ham Sang-wook, Director-General for Multilateral Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, may bring up the plan to deploy "intermediate-range missiles," which is also a burden.

In response, Wang Yi is expected to focus on reaffirming South Korea-China cooperation. Earlier in August, Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China in charge of diplomacy, who visited South Korea and met Suh Hoon, Director of the National Security Office at the Blue House in Busan, agreed to facilitate an early visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping and discussed communication and cooperation related to the Korean Peninsula peace process, including COVID-19 cooperation. Wang Yi is also likely to continue discussions regarding President Xi's visit, which has not been scheduled due to COVID-19, and the upcoming November trilateral summit among South Korea, China, and Japan.

There is an analysis that any topics related to the U.S.-China conflict discussed at the table could pose a burden on the South Korean government in some way. During Yang Jiechi's visit in August, the Blue House explained China's position on the U.S.-China conflict, and Director Suh emphasized the importance of friendly cooperation between the U.S. and China. Since Wang Yi's visit is likely to take place immediately after Pompeo's visit, it inevitably becomes a test of balanced diplomacy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.