China and South Korea accuse each other of undermining key national principles

China and South Korea have exchanged formal protests over the highly sensitive Taiwan question and Korean unity. The two countries have been trying to improve relations in recent months, but South Korean national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said he had issued “a serious objection” after an official Chinese statement welcomed moves “towards the peaceful coexistence of the two states of South and North Korea”. Meanwhile, Beijing “lodged serious representations” with Seoul over an art event that featured a “Taiwan pavilion”, prompting mainland China’s artists to withdraw from the event in protest. Wi’s protest was prompted by a statement issued after his recent meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. “Because the Chinese side’s post-meeting statement included the expression ‘two states’ and this differs from what we think, we raised a serious objection,” Wi said. South Korea does not recognise North Korea as a separate sovereign state, instead viewing the Korean peninsula as a single territory awaiting reunification. Wi added that when Beijing and Seoul established formal diplomatic relations in 1992, China had expressed support for reunification, and treating the Korean peninsula as “two states” was a move away from reaching that goal. Wi added that South Korea was “urging the Chinese side not to use expressions that could cause such misunderstandings” but also said Wang had not used the phrase “two states” during their meeting. When the two Koreas joined the United Nations simultaneously in 1991, both stressed that the inter-Korean relationship was not one between states but a special interim relationship. But two years ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said inter-Korean ties should be redefined as a relationship between “two hostile states” and references to “national reunification” were removed from the constitution. More recently, the Workers’ Party of Korea formally removed the goal of reunification from its charter, according to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank affiliated with the South’s National Intelligence Service. China’s use of the “two states” formulation has raised questions over whether Beijing has effectively accepted Kim’s line. Meanwhile, Beijing said it had lodged a complaint over the use of the phrase “Taiwan Pavilion” in the Gwangju Biennale, one of the most prestigious international contemporary art exhibitions in Asia. The Gwangju Biennale Foundation, the main organiser of the event, had earlier used the title “NTMoFA [National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts] Pavilion” but changed the name following protests from Taiwanese artists. However, this prompted mainland China to quit the event in protest. According to South Korean media reports, an official delegation from the Chinese city of Guangzhou has also cancelled a visit to Gwangju next week. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to reunite it with the mainland. Most countries, including South Korea, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun accused the biennale organisers of having “stubbornly clung to the wrongful practice, allowing China’s Taiwan region to participate under a designation that is completely incompatible with its status”. “China is firmly opposed to this and has lodged serious representations with the [Republic of Korea] side, demanding that the relevant party immediately correct its wrongdoing,” Guo said on Thursday, using the South’s official name. “We hope that the ROK government will honour its political commitments, earnestly shoulder its responsibilities and uphold the one-China principle with concrete actions.” Hours earlier, the Chinese embassy in South Korea also posted a statement on social media that “strongly urged the organisers of the biennale and the Gwangju municipal government to correct the mistake immediately and avoid causing serious negative impacts on the biennale’s reputation and on China-South Korea relations”. Beijing’s ambassador to Seoul, Dai Bing, visited Gwangju last week to meet city mayor Min Hyung-bae. South Korean media reported that Dai expressed his concerns about the Taiwan Pavilion, while the city government and biennale foundation apologised for procedural shortcomings and said they “respected” the one-China principle. The Chinese embassy’s statement about the visit did not mention the dispute. South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Park Doo-soon said the decision about the pavilion had nothing to do with the government and he hoped it would not “affect Korea-China relations or exchange and cooperation between the two countries”. Dai has also tried to strike a positive note about relations between Seoul and Beijing recently. At a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik last month he said the two countries had become “inseparable strategic partners”. He also attended a tourism event in Seoul on Thursday, where he said ties were “entering a virtuous cycle of improvement and development” and he would encourage more South Korean tourists to visit China.

China and South Korea accuse each other of undermining key national principles

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Seoul protests about an official reference to ‘two states’ in Korea, while Beijing complains about an art exhibition’s ‘Taiwan Pavilion’

Seoul protests about an official reference to ‘two states’ in Korea, while Beijing complains about an art exhibition’s ‘Taiwan Pavilion’