China warns South Korea not to politicize economic and technological issues

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on November 26 warned his South Korean counterpart Park Jin not to politicize economic and technological issues, as the two countries' foreign ministers prepared for a trilateral meeting with their Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa to promote cooperation.

Trung Quốc cảnh báo Hàn Quốc chớ chính trị hóa các vấn đề kinh tế. (Nguồn: Reuters)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his South Korean counterpart Park Jin in Busan. (Source: Reuters)

"China and South Korea have become cooperative partners with highly integrated interests and highly interconnected production and supply chains. The two sides need to jointly counter the trend of politicizing economic issues, instrumentalizing science and technology issues, and widely securitizing trade issues... China is willing to join hands to promote the restart of trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

While China and the United States are seeking to mend their frayed relationship, including a summit this month between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden, Beijing is concerned that Washington and its key regional allies are forging a trilateral partnership with Seoul and Tokyo.

The talks between the South Korean and Chinese foreign ministers came days after North Korea successfully launched a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit, following two failed attempts in May and August.

In response, South Korea partially scrapped a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement. In retaliation, North Korea said it would immediately restore all military measures suspended under the agreement.

China has called on all parties involved to “remain calm and restrained” following the satellite launch, and said it would continue to play a “constructive role” in promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

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