China courts South Korea while criticising Pyongyang over nuclear weapons

In a rebalancing of East Asian alliances, President Xi Jinping yesterday underlined China and South Korea’s mutual history of combating Japanese aggression and spoke of a new closeness with Seoul, while criticising traditional ally North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme.

Mr Xi made his comments as Japan, long the most mistrustful of North Korea among the regional powers because of its missile programme, agreed to loosen sanctions following Pyongyang agreeing to investigate the fate of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s.

“China and South Korea have similar experience in history and shared interest on the issue of history related to Japan,” Mr Xi said, adding that both both sought to get Japan to atone properly for its brutal actions in the second World War. “In China, there is a saying, ‘past experience, if not forgotten, is a guide for the future’,” Mr Xi said.

The president, who is heading a large business delegation, is making strong overtures to Seoul about closer co-operation in the East Asian arena, both politically and on trade issues. In the process, China has marginalised North Korea, a communist ally with whom it has been "as close as lips and teeth" since they fought side-by-side in the Korean War (1950-53).

Mr Xi wants to hold joint anniversary events with South Korea next year to mark its victory over Japan and then-united Korea’s liberation in 1945. Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory in the anti-fascist war and the war of Chinese people’s resistance against Japanese aggression, as well as the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japan’s colonial rule, Xinhua said. The Korean peninsula was a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945.

Both China and South Korea also respond angrily when senior Japanese politicians visit the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours war criminals.

By encouraging greater closeness with South Korea, a regional economic giant, China hopes to further isolate Japan, and also remind the US that it will not have things its own way in Asia, despite various historical alliances.

Relations between China and Japan have been poor since a row flared over a chain of uninhabited islands in resource-rich waters in the East China Sea, known as the Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, and there are fears tensions could escalate.

Japan believes this kind of historical discussion is not helpful. “Attempts to take up history in vain and make it an international issue would not contribute at all to building peace and co-operation in the region,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

Mr Xi said he and South Korean president Park Geun-hye had fruitful talks, and looked forward to improved co-operation and bilateral relations “against the backdrop of a new situation”. Beijing is pushing for a free trade agreement with Seoul, which would put Korea and China in the driving seat when it comes to setting up a China-Japan-Korea free-trade agreement.