Huanqiu Shibao and China Daily Publish Critical Views
Chinese state media are expressing caution over the new turning point in Korea-Japan relations following President Yoon Suk-yeol's visit to Japan (16-17th) and the Korea-Japan summit.
On the 18th, the Communist Party's official newspaper People's Daily-affiliated Global Times and the state-run English newspaper China Daily each published views from Chinese experts on the improvement of Korea-Japan relations in their print and online editions. Xiang Haoyu, a visiting researcher at the Asia-Pacific Research Institute of the China Institute of International Studies, wrote in a Global Times column titled "The Korea-Japan thaw leaves hidden troubles," stating that the recent improvement in Korea-Japan relations is "a strengthening among right-wing conservative forces in both countries," describing it as "a provisional and partial easing of tensions, far from reconciliation."
Regarding the agreement to resume security talks and fully normalize the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), he also viewed that "Korea and Japan, by strengthening military cooperation, have left several hidden troubles for the future development of bilateral relations and the regional situation."
Xiang argued that the Korea-US-Japan security cooperation will deepen bloc confrontation, and that the trilateral missile defense (MD) cooperation enhancement and the push for extended deterrence negotiations will further provoke North Korea's determination to possess nuclear weapons, potentially worsening the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Additionally, In Shaoliang, a professor at Nankai University's Japan Research Institute, in an interview with China Daily, predicted that the recent compromise between Korea and Japan "tolerates provocations by Japanese right-wing forces regarding history and will help Japan break away from the postwar order."
He also wrote that the reconciliation between Korea and Japan "will promote the formation of an Asian NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the Chip 4 alliance (a semiconductor supply chain consultation body among Korea, the US, Japan, and Taiwan), contributing to the US Indo-Pacific strategy to contain China."
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