Wang Yi Urges Seoul Not to Take Sides Between US and China
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Wang Yi urged South Korea to 'refrain from bloc confrontation and taking sides' between China and the US during an Aug 20 meeting with National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac in Seoul, calling on Washington to abandon its 'hostile' policy toward North Korea
- Wang Yi also met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, telling him bilateral ties had 'fully recovered' and pressing for early completion of second-stage free trade agreement talks amid 'intensifying fragmentation in the global economy and rising trade protectionism'
- Donald Trump said on Aug 19 he plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later in 2026 and claimed Pyongyang holds 57 'very powerful' nuclear weapons, while ordering Pentagon officials to cut short joint military exercises with South Korea
- North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile toward the sea on Aug 20, the same day as Wang's Seoul meetings, while maintaining its rejection of US demands to denuclearize
- China called for a restart of inter-Korean dialogue and trust restoration, with Wang expressing hope the peninsula moves toward peaceful coexistence between South and North Korea
Why it matters: Beijing is counter-mobilizing diplomatically as Trump reshapes the US-South Korea alliance on his own terms — cutting drills and pursuing personal diplomacy with Kim Jong Un. For Seoul, Wang's push to 'develop relations with major powers in parallel and without contradiction' is paired with concrete economic incentives in the stalled FTA talks, raising the cost of exclusive alignment with Washington.
Ask SkimNews
