South Korean leader Moon Jae-in will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week, as the security situation on the Korean Peninsula continues to worsen.
Beijing was strongly opposed to that deployment, set in motion by Moon’s predecessor, impeached President Park Geun-hye. While Moon also voiced skepticism over the missile system before assuming power, analysts said ongoing North Korean missile testing made it difficult for him to roll back deployment.
China reacted to the roll-out with an unofficial embargo of South Korea, which hit the country’s tourism industry and prompted Chinese consumers to boycott Korean brands.
Rough road
Relations between Seoul and Beijing, though, began to improve in recent months. The two countries issued a statement in late October that recognized the “great importance” of the bilateral relationship.
“Both sides agreed that strengthening exchanges and cooperation between Korea and China would create harmony of interests in both sides, and agreed to resume exchanges and cooperation in all areas as soon as possible,” the statement said .
Tong Zhao, fellow at the Carnegie Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, told CNN at the time that it appeared the Chinese government had decided to move past the issue, which he said had led to major losses for both countries, diplomatically and economically.
“China needs a smooth relationship with South Korea in order to maintain its own geostrategic interests over the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
“China has great concerns about the US alliance in the region and if China can build good relations with one of those US allies, that can work to undermine (the alliance), in some sense.”
Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at Sydney’s Lowy Institute, said continued North Korean nuclear and missile testing had been pushing South Korea and the US closer together, undermining efforts by China to improve relations and increase its influence in the region ahead of the THAAD deployment.
