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On October 7th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the list of people going to the DPRK to attend the military parade celebration of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea. Less than 48 hours after the news came out, the South Korean Foreign Minister called Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
On the phone, South Korean Foreign Minister Zhao Xian bluntly said: South Korea will do its utmost to develop relations with China. The signal of this sentence is unusual, and the timing of the call is no coincidence. The situation on the peninsula is quietly changing.
China-North Korea interaction is warming up, what signals are sent?
The timing of the Chinese visit cannot be overlooked, the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Labour Party was one of the major things that the DPRK appreciated, and China's sending a high-quality delegation meant that this was not only a polite presence, but also a deep political interaction.
China's wording is also very clear, defining China-North Korea relations as "traditional friendly neighbors" and emphasizing "unswerving strategic approach."
This is not a simple diplomatic rhetoric, but a public expression of "China-North Korea relations will not change." Against the backdrop of the current complex situation on the peninsula, this statement itself is tantamount to a gesture.
Compared to the low-frequency interactions under the influence of the epidemic in previous years, this high-level visit marks a re-heating of bilateral relations, and a quick and stable return.
From the Chinese point of view, this visit is not only a respect for the political rhythm of the DPRK, but also a reconfirmation of the stability and continuity of China-DPRK relations in the current international environment.
But this step is not isolated, it has a bigger strategic chessboard behind it, which is why the South Korean foreign minister talked to the Chinese foreign minister almost 24 hours after the Chinese side announced the visit list.
The call was initially put forward by the South Korean side, the timing was selected extremely accurately, and it was clearly a quick response to the interaction between the DPRK and China.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi's response was also very stable, emphasizing that China and South Korea are "important neighbors and close cooperative partners", but there was also a reminder in his tone: China and South Korea should trust each other, eliminate interference and cooperate.
This phone call is not only diplomatic etiquette, but more like the launch of a "timely communication mechanism". As soon as the rhythm of the DPRK was announced, the South Korean side immediately took action, indicating that they are very sensitive to the direction of China-DPRK relations.
Especially when China participates in North Korea’s political celebrations at a high level, South Korea obviously doesn’t want to be passive.
During the call, Foreign Minister Wang Yi also specifically mentioned the APEC summit to be held in South Korea at the end of October, and stressed that China and South Korea will take turns to host it this year and next. This sentence is obviously giving the South Korean side a step forward: The platform for cooperation is more than peninsula affairs, but also multilateral mechanisms at the economic level.
This kind of rhetoric not only releases a signal of easing, but also draws a bottom line: China will not let the situation on the peninsula kidnap China-ROK relations, but it will not accept any party's attempt to provoke confrontation.
Zhao Xian's response also gave positive feedback, saying that he "attaches great importance to relations with China" and hopes to promote high-level interaction through APEC. This statement is relatively positive under the current background that China-ROK relations are not hot.
But that just highlights one problem: South Korea doesn’t want to be marginalized when China’s interaction warms up.
Diplomatic layout under the dual-track strategy
If you look at the matter alone, you may not see the depth of it, but if you put these two things together, you will find a clear diplomatic network is unfolding: In China's peninsula affairs, it is simultaneously strengthening its traditional friendship with the DPRK and maintaining a stable channel of cooperation with the ROK.
This is the so-called "double parallel": on the one hand, strengthening political mutual trust with North Korea, and on the other hand, not giving up on pragmatic cooperation with South Korea, such a strategy is not new, but in the current context of this multi-factor uncertainty interplay, its operational difficulty has significantly increased.
In particular, the U.S. military deployment in the Asia-Pacific region continues to increase pressure, and the pace of Japan-Korea approximation accelerates, making the sensitivity of the situation on the peninsula again rising.
In this context, China's choice to take a hand in important political nodes in North Korea is both a gesture of support for Pyongyang and the outside world: China will not be absent from the Korean Peninsula affairs, nor will it be implicit that regional games are unilaterally dominated.
At the same time,ining communication with the South Korean side is in order to make China-Korea relations not blocked by tension on the Korean Peninsula, Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear that he hopes that China-Korea will continue to cooperate on multilateral platforms, and this expression of "hoping out of the Korean Peninsula and looking at the Peninsula" is in fact reserving space for more cooperation in the future.
However, the call did not mention sensitive issues, such as the "North Korean nuclear issue" or "Thaad", which in itself shows that China and South Korea both prefer to talk about "cooperation" and do not want to openly touch "contradictions".
This reflects a pragmatic attitude, and it also shows that even when the interaction between China and the DPRK heats up, China and South Korea are still seeking a relatively stable diplomatic rhythm.
The biggest point of view of this incident is not who went to Pyongyang, nor who called the phone, but the change in the rhythm, China in the key nodes preemptive, South Korea quickly followed, showing the redistribution of regional diplomatic voice.
For a long time in the past, the dominance of the Korean Peninsula affairs has been firmly controlled by the United States and Japan, and now, through high-level visits and active communication, China has regained part of its initiative, and more importantly, China is not only a "balancer", but also a "promoter".
The 80th anniversary of North Korea is just a node, but it leads to a chain reaction of a series of diplomatic actions. From the Chinese perspective, it is an attempt to "stabilize the situation on the peninsula with North Korea as the anchor point". From the South Korean perspective, it is an attempt to "prevent oneself from being marginalized" self-repair.
In the future, with the development of multilateral mechanisms such as APEC, whether China and South Korea can find more consensus in economic and trade cooperation is the key to determining whether the two countries' relations are "disconnected" or "reconnected".
While the interaction between China and the DPRK is heating up, China and South Korea are also looking for new contact points. This situation is actually exactly what China wants to see: the peninsula will not be torn apart, but will be rewoven.
The strengthening of China-North Korea relations is not a provocation to anyone, and the close communication between China and South Korea is not a compromise to anyone. They together reflect China's calm layout and coordination capabilities in current geopolitics.
Diplomacy has never been a single-choice question, but a multi-line operation. This time, China used an interview and a phone call to make its position clear and brought the rhythm of the peninsula to a new stage.
Finally, I only hope that South Korea will be more sincere in its exchanges with China, and that the friendship between China and the DPRK will last forever.
Source: The People's Daily