Chinese senior officials’ South Korea trip to coincide with Putin’s Pyongyang visit
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A trip to South Korea by senior Chinese foreign and defence officials will coincide with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang next door, as tensions soar in the Korean peninsula. Foreign vice-minister Sun Weidong and Zhang Baoqun, deputy director of the Chinese military’s international cooperation office, will be in Seoul on Tuesday to take part in the “2+2” diplomatic and security dialogue, Beijing’s foreign ministry has confirmed. South Korean foreign vice-minister Kim Hong-kyun and defence officials will take part in the meeting, a statement from Seoul’s foreign ministry said. A rough schedule for the coming dialogue was confirmed when Chinese Premier Li Qiang met South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul last month. Set up in 2002, the dialogue has been organised five times so far. It was upgraded to vice-ministerial level in 2020, when the Beijing-friendly Moon Jae-in was president of South Korea. “The establishment of the 2+2 dialogue mechanism between China and the Republic of Korea … is in view of the needs of the development of bilateral relations,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said in Beijing on Monday, referring to the official name for South Korea “China will focus on exchanging views with South Korea on how to develop and improve [relations and] deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields,” he added. Meanwhile, Putin will travel to North Korea on Tuesday, the Kremlin has confirmed after months of speculation over the much-hyped trip. It will be the Russian leader’s first visit to the reclusive country in two decades. This comes amid reports that Moscow is seeking closer ties with Pyongyang as it tries to rebuild its international image following the damaging invasion of Ukraine. Lin said the date for the dialogue “was agreed upon at an early stage” and had “no special relevance to other countries”. However, Putin’s coming visit injects greater uncertainty into the situation in the peninsula, as North and South Korea mark new lows in ties. All economic…