SEOUL, Aug 19 - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi landed in Seoul on Wednesday to begin a series of meetings with senior South Korean officials, according to South Korean government statements.
Wang is scheduled to meet South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Hyun later on Wednesday, with talks followed by a dinner, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said. The agenda for that meeting is expected to cover bilateral relations, issues related to the Korean Peninsula and broader regional affairs.
On Thursday Wang will hold talks with President Lee Jae Myung, the presidential office said. The schedule also includes a meeting and luncheon with National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, according to the presidential office.
The visit comes in the wake of Seoul and Washington reducing the scale of their joint military exercises. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he ordered the change because of his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and has indicated he is willing to meet Kim again.
China, which is the only country with a formal treaty relationship with North Korea, has not made a direct comment on President Trump's remarks about the military exercises. At a regular news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian reiterated Beijing's longstanding position on the peninsula, saying:
"Maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and promoting the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue is in the common interests of all parties."
When speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Cho said he expected to raise Korean Peninsula issues with Wang, specifically pointing to recent developments around the military exercises.
Cho also said the South Korean Foreign Ministry is pursuing a summit between President Lee and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen later this year. President Lee has put forward a proposal for multilateral talks that would bring together parties to the 1950-53 Korean War to discuss ways to establish a lasting peace on the peninsula. Lee is expected to attend the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November.
Wang's Seoul visit, with its concentrated schedule of diplomacy, comes amid shifting military and diplomatic signals in the region and planned high-level meetings later this year that could shape regional dialogue on security and peace arrangements.