South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will seek to ease concerns over his strengthening ties with the US and Japan when he visits Beijing this week, analysts said.
The conservative leader has made better relations with Washington and Tokyo a top policy goal but has left his China policy ambiguous, said Kim Heung-kyu of the Institute for Foreign Affairs and National Security.
China also has some concerns about Lee’s tougher policy on nuclear-armed North Korea, analysts said.
At their summit tomorrow Lee and his counterpart Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) will discuss ways to strengthen ties, expand economic and trade relations and enhance regional cooperation, the presidential Blue House said.
The four-day visit “is expected to provide chances to confirm China’s support for and understanding of our diplomatic policies and strengthen close cooperation between the two countries in resolving the North’s nuclear issue,” it said in a statement.
Lee “has clearly indicated that his top priority in foreign policy is to improve strategic relations with the United States, while efforts to improve Sino-South Korean relations will focus primarily on upgrading economic cooperation,” analyst Scott Snyder of the Asia Foundation wrote recently.
Efforts for trilateral security involving the US, Japan and South Korea “invite concerns in China that it might be used to encircle China or to strengthen coordination in response to any potential cross-Strait crisis,” Snyder wrote.
Kim said there was “growing concern in China that South Korea is being drawn into a US-led strategy to form a sort of a Northeast NATO and encircle China.”
Professor Lee Chul-ki of Dongguk University agreed that Lee’s “US-oriented” foreign policy is causing concern.
“President Lee has to dispel these concerns. This emerges as a big challenge for him during his visit to Beijing,” he said.
Professor Lee said China is especially concerned about whether South Korea will join a US-led missile defense program, which Beijing suspects is aimed at it.
“China is expected to convey its concerns to South Korea during [President] Lee’s visit,” he said.
Discussions on a possible free trade agreement (FTA) will also be on the agenda in Beijing. Seoul has already signed a sweeping deal with Washington that is awaiting ratification.
Analysts said China tends to see the Korea-US FTA as something that goes beyond economics and views it with a security perspective.
“China feels it necessary to counterbalance the FTA with its own with South Korea,” said professor Lee.
Six-nation efforts — involving China, the two Koreas, the US, Japan and Russia — to negotiate an end to the North’s nuclear programs appear to be making progress.
But Snyder said Beijing is apparently concerned that Lee’s tougher policy might have a negative impact on North Korea’s willingness to cooperate in implementing agreements.
“Aside from the nuclear issue, China’s cooperation is imperative for South Korea in leading North Korea to a soft landing through international cooperation,” Kim said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including