China has reaffirmed its stance that it would consistently support the improvement of inter-Korean relations amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has recently ramped up military provocations against South Korea and its allies with multiple missile launches and nuclear tests, labeling Seoul as a “primary enemy.”
South Korea, under the conservative Yoon Suk Yul administration, has been implementing a hardline policy towards Pyongyang, with his government openly vowing to respond to the North’s military provocation.
When asked by a reporter about China’s stance on inter-Korean relations during a regular press briefing on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China “noted” the situation, adding that Beijing “always supports the DPRK and the ROK in improving their relations.”
DPRK, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, refers to North Korea, while ROK, or Republic of Korea, is the South.
“The situation on the Korean Peninsula has come to where it stands today for a reason. Tensions on the Peninsular do not serve the common interests of relevant parties,” said Wang.
“Relevant parties need to work towards the same direction, keep to the major direction of political settlement and jointly safeguard peace and stability on the Peninsula,” Wang added, while noting that Pyongyang’s statement on its policy is a “sovereign matter.”
Wang’s remarks came a few days after the South Korean government reaffirmed its position on respecting Beijing’s One China principle.
Under this principle, the Chinese Communist Party asserts sovereignty over the democratic island of Taiwan.
“Our government will continue to promote practical cooperation with Taiwan in various fields based on its stance of respect for ‘One China [principle]’,” said Chung Jaeho, South Korea’s ambassador to China, speaking to South Korean correspondents at the embassy in Beijing last Friday.
“We hope that peace and stability will be maintained across the Taiwan Strait and cross-Strait relations will develop peacefully,” he added.
The Taiwan issue has emerged as a source of conflict between China and South Korea in recent years, as the current Yoon administration has been more vocal than in the past in opposing China’s “unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force” in the Taiwan Strait.
Chung added that South Korea was “making necessary communications” to ensure that the trilateral summit agreed to last year among South Korea, Japan and China could be held in the first half of this year in South Korea.
Separately, Chung also called on China to “play a more active and responsible role,” emphasizing that North Korea’s threats to the South and its nuclear and missile development are adversely affecting not only the situation on the Korean Peninsula, but also global stability and peace.
Edited by Elaine Chan and Mike Firn.