China voices concern over South Korea's nuclear submarine

Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing said China has expressed concern over the United States’ approval of South Korea’s plan to build a nuclear-powered submarine, and he urged that the issue be handled carefully with full consideration of all countries’ concerns. His comments came after the presidential office said it believed China had been persuaded on the matter.

At a news briefing on Nov. 13 at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, Dai said, “What I want to emphasize is that the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region remains complicated and sensitive.” He added that nuclear submarine cooperation between South Korea and the United States goes beyond commercial collaboration and is directly linked to the global nuclear nonproliferation regime as well as peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

His remarks indicated that China views U.S. provision of nuclear submarine fuel as potentially violating nuclear nonproliferation principles. The South Korean government maintains that the nuclear-powered submarines are armed with conventional weapons rather than nuclear weapons and therefore do not breach the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Dai also expressed concern about the modernization of the South Korea–U.S. alliance, including the expansion of strategic flexibility for U.S. Forces Korea. He said, “We hope the South Korea–U.S. alliance will refrain from playing with fire on the Taiwan issue.” Earlier, Xue Jian, China’s consul general in Osaka, sparked controversy after warning Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who had said Japan would exercise collective self-defense to assist Taiwan in a contingency, that China would “behead” Japan if it intervened.

Regarding China’s sanctions on the U.S. subsidiary of Hanwha Ocean, which were later suspended for one year, Dai said the measures were a response to the U.S. Section 301 trade investigation. He added that South Korea “should learn that China will not stay idle in the face of any action that harms its interests.”

On illegal structures in the West Sea, Dai said they were deep-sea aquaculture facilities for raising salmon, and claimed that they comply with international law and do not affect bilateral agreements between South Korea and China.


Oh-Hyuk Kwon hyuk@donga.com