China and US agree to keep communication open over Korean peninsula

China and the United States have agreed to continue communicating over the situation on the Korean peninsula, as series of North Korean missile tests ratcheted up tensions in the region.

In a meeting via video link on Thursday, Liu Xiaoming, China's special envoy for Korean peninsula affairs, said a stable Korean peninsula was in the interests of the region and the world.

"All parties concerned should face the crux of the question of the peninsula and address their respective concerns in a balanced manner through meaningful dialogue," Liu told Jung Pak, the US deputy special representative for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as North Korea is officially known.

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"China will continue to play a constructive role in advancing the process of a political settlement of the peninsula issue," Liu said, according to a brief statement by the Chinese foreign ministry.

According to the Chinese statement, Pak responded by saying that "the US values China's role in addressing the peninsula issue and hopes to communicate and cooperate with China in this regard".

The meeting on Thursday came amid a tentative detente between China and the US following a summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in San Francisco in November during which the two leaders exchanged views on key regional and global challenges, including the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

It also came as tensions rose between the two Koreas.

This month, North Korea's legislature voted to scrap all economic cooperation agreements with South Korea.

Last week, its leader, Kim Jong-un, oversaw the testing of new Padasuri-6 surface-to-sea missiles and warned that his country would take a more aggressive military posture in disputed waters near the South Korean border islands of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong.

On the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Rio on Thursday, top diplomats from the US, Japan and South Korea agreed to pursue closer cooperation to address North Korea's nuclear and missile development, and its expanding military cooperation with Russia.

And South Korea and the US, in an effort to strengthen deterrence against North Korea, staged air drills in South Korea on Friday. Seoul's air force said the F-35A stealth fighters formed a joint team to train on defensive counter air manoeuvres, such as intercepting simulated enemy aircraft and cruise missiles.

Washington has repeatedly called on China - a major ally and economic lifeline to North Korea - to use its leverage to reign in Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons and persuade Kim to return to nuclear negotiations.

However, Beijing insisted that the lack of trust between Washington and Pyongyang was the "crux" of the issue and that the US should take responsibility.

To break diplomatic isolation from the US and its allies, North Korea has sought closer ties with China and Russia.

Last month, it hosted Chinese vice foreign minister Sun Weidong, who held talks with his North Korean counterpart Pak Myong-ho in Pyongyang and met North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the two sides agreed to "strengthen strategic communication at all levels, deepen traditional friendship and practical cooperation, and closely coordinate and cooperate at the multilateral level, to promote the sustained development" between the two neighbours, which would mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties this year.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to visit North Korea, an invitation that was extended during Kim's six-day visit to Russia in September.

In an interview last week, Jung Pak, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst and a Korean American scholar who was picked by Biden in 2021, said China should condemn North Korea's "deepening cooperation" with Russia.

"The DPRK issue is China's problem, as well," Pak said, according to Bloomberg. "It's not just our problem. China has a role to play and it has influence."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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