Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party and foreign minister [EPA]
Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party and foreign minister [EPA]

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party and foreign minister, will visit South Korea and Indonesia in succession beginning Wednesday — his first solo trip to South Korea in about five years since September 2021.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Wednesday in a spokesperson statement that Wang would visit South Korea and Indonesia from Wednesday through Saturday "at the invitation of South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono."

Wang's South Korea schedule spans two days, Wednesday and Thursday.

The visit marks his first solo trip to South Korea for bilateral diplomatic purposes in about five years since September 2021. Wang previously visited Busan in November 2023 to attend the Korea-Japan-China foreign ministers' meeting.

It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the South Korean and Chinese foreign ministers in about 11 months, since last September. Cho met Wang in Beijing on Sept. 17 last year for their first bilateral foreign ministers' meeting and dinner since she took office, discussing the South Korea-China relationship, the Korean Peninsula and other shared concerns.

At the time, Cho invited Wang to visit South Korea, and Wang responded that he looked forward to meeting again in Seoul soon.

According to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang will arrive Wednesday afternoon and hold a bilateral foreign ministers' meeting and an official dinner with Cho. On Thursday, he will call on President Lee Jae Myung at Cheong Wa Dae. National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac is also scheduled to hold talks and a luncheon with Wang.

After concluding his South Korea schedule, Wang will travel to Indonesia to chair the first meeting of the China-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Dialogue Mechanism and attend the second ministerial-level meeting of the China-Indonesia foreign and defense 2+2 dialogue mechanism alongside Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com