Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi cautioned his South Korean counterpart over politicising economic and technological issues.
At a meeting on strengthening cooperation between China, South Korea and Japan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned his Korean counterpart not to politicise on economic issues.
China and South Korea have become co-operation partners with highly integrated interests and highly interconnected production and supply chains.
South Korea has tried to remain neutral in relations between China and the U.S. over semiconductors.
Both sides should jointly resist the tendency to politicise economic issues, instrumentalise science and tech issues, and the broad securitisation of trade issues.
Last month, the U.S. allowed Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK Hynix (000660.KS) to supply US chip-making equipment to their Chinese factories indefinitely.
China and the United States have been trying to mend relations, including a summit this month between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden that brought some glimmers. But Beijing is concerned that Washington and its key regional allies are strengthening their trilateral partnership.
Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul agreed to hold summits every year since 2008 to expand diplomatic and economic exchanges, but the “tradition” was not destined to materialise due to COVID-19 and bilateral conflicts.
Nevertheless, all three countries are now meeting again in the port city of Busan. In September, top officials from the three countries agreed to organize a trilateral summit at the “earliest convenient time.”
