China Reluctant to Engage in High-Level Talks with Korea

China is dragging its heels over diplomatic and security talks with Korea that were scheduled for the first half of this year.

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in southern China in April, but nothing has so far come of the plans.

The last time the two countries held 2+2 talks was in 2015. It seems China is sulking because Korea agreed to offer limited support to the U.S.-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, an informal anti-China alliance.

Beijing has also told Seoul that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit as soon as the coronavirus pandemic eases, but the two sides have been unable to set a date. The last time Xi visited Korea was in July 2014, during the Park Geun-hye administration.

Korea has newly exempted fully vaccinated visitors from China from quarantine if they visit for important reasons like family gatherings, but China has not reciprocated.

Meanwhile, in a belligerent hour-long televised address marking the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party on Thursday, President Xi Jinping warned that anyone who tries to "bully" China "will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people."