Foreign Minister Park Jin, left, shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday. Yonhap

THAAD expected to be most explosive issue: experts

By Kang Seung-woo

The foreign ministers of South Korea and China sit down for talks Tuesday to address a heap of thorny issues amid Beijing's growing displeasure with Seoul over its policies involving the United States, a staunch ally of the South.

The meeting in Qingdao, China is the second of its kind between Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi since Park's inauguration in May and comes as the Chinese government has warned against South Korea's possible participation in the U.S.-proposed anti-China chip alliance, believed to be a platform aimed at countering Beijing's rising influence in global supply chains.

In addition, China has urged the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to uphold the previous government's so-called "Three Nos" policy, which refers to no additional deployments of U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries, no South Korean integration into a U.S.-led regional missile defense system and no trilateral alliance with the U.S. and Japan.

"Amid intensifying competition between the U.S. and China for regional hegemony, the recent Asian trip by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has further complicated the situation," said Chung Jae-hung, a research fellow at the Sejong Institute.

Pelosi, the third-highest official in the U.S. government, toured five Asian countries, including Taiwan last week, drawing a strong backlash from the Chinese government. China considers Taiwan as a renegade province.

"In that regard, China is highly anticipated to take a harder line against us during the foreign ministerial meeting, so we have to explore ways on how to respond to its tough stance," Chung added.