 | | When new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was inaugurated on May 10, China was represented by Vice President Wang Qishan at the ceremony.
The dispatch of the unusually high-ranking official was thought to be a sign of the importance President Xi Jinping attaches to the neighboring country. But what if Wang had a separate mission in Seoul?
Sources familiar with the matter said that during his short visit, Wang sent a signal to the U.S. delegation, headed by second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, that China was ready for high-level dialogue with the U.S.
The quiet messaging in Seoul bore fruit a week later when China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi held a phone conversation with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
But U.S. President Joe Biden's bombshell statement in Tokyo that he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion may have thrown a massive wrench into the secret talks.
Read this week's China Up Close by Katsuji Nakazawa here.
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