Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission and China's foreign minister, speaks during a bilateral foreign ministers' meeting with South Korea at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Government Complex Seoul, Jongno-gu, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission and China's foreign minister, speaks during a bilateral foreign ministers' meeting with South Korea at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Government Complex Seoul, Jongno-gu, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday that any prospect of China mediating talks between North Korea and the United States was ultimately "for North Korea and the United States to decide," adding that Washington must abandon its longstanding hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

Wang made the remarks to reporters after wrapping up a bilateral foreign ministers' meeting with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that afternoon.

Asked what the two sides had discussed, Wang said they had covered "a very wide range of areas in the bilateral relationship" and reached "important consensus on strengthening cooperation and advancing the improvement and development of our relations."

On the Donald Trump administration's characterization of the Lee Jae-myung government as "pro-China," Wang rebuffed the label, saying the Lee government was "a government that defends South Korea's interests" and that "cooperating amicably with China serves the national interest."

Asked about the current state of China-South Korea relations, Wang said ties had "entered a trajectory of improvement and development since the Lee Jae-myung government took office," adding that he believed this "serves the interests of both countries and reflects the wishes of both peoples."

Wang said the two countries are known as "permanent friendly neighbors" and are at the same time "enduring partners in cooperation." He noted that China is the world's largest market today and that South Korea sits right next door.

He invoked a Chinese proverb — that a pavilion near the water catches the moonlight first — to argue that closer China-South Korea cooperation would benefit South Korea's own development.


moone@heraldcorp.com