Photo:VCG

The issue of the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan question are not comparable as they have a different nature and an evolving process, the Chinese Embassy in South Korea said on Monday in response to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's Taiwan-related remarks.

"North Korea and South Korea joined the United Nations at the same time in 1991 and were both recognized as independent sovereign states, which is completely different from the relationship between the Chinese mainland and the Taiwan region," the embassy spokesperson emphasized.

The embassy said the remarks were intended to respond to some countries' negative position on Taiwan-related questions, as well as the US' recent collusion with Taiwan's DPP authority.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said in an interview that "increased tensions around [the island of Taiwan] were due to attempts to change the status quo by force," adding that it "is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue."

Regarding the Korean Peninsula issue, China fully respects the willingness of the two countries' people to achieve reunification, and supports the two sides to improve relations via dialogue and consultation to reach independent and peaceful reunification, said the embassy.

The embassy also elaborated on the historic aspect of the Taiwan question, the reasons for the current tension, the content of the one-China principle and China's firm opposition to the use of the Taiwan question to interfere in its domestic affairs.

In August 1992, China and South Korea signed a joint communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations in Beijing, where Article Three read that the government of South Korea respects China's position that there is only one China and that Taiwan island is a part of China.

"This is a solemn commitment of the South Korean side and a political basis for the development of China-South Korea relations," said the embassy.

Global Times