Well-informed sources told the Hankyoreh that preparations for a visit to Seoul by Wang had been underway since the beginning of the year
Wang Yi (left), the foreign minister of China, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the headquarters of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 10, 2026. (courtesy of the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
China has postponed a visit to South Korea by its top diplomat following recent changes Seoul made to its electronic arrival cards related to Taiwan, the Hankyoreh has confirmed. According to multiple sources with intimate knowledge of Korea-China relations, the two governments had been coordinating a visit to Korea by Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China since the beginning of the year, but Beijing has become reluctant to proceed ever since the Korean government removed the “China (Taiwan)” option from the last point of departure and next destination fields from e-arrival cards in March. The Korean government had been coordinating Wang’s visit to Korea ever since South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping held bilateral summits in November 2025 and January 2026. The government hoped that Wang would stop by South Korea following his visit to Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 8-9. With US President Donald Trump scheduled to visit China in mid-May, Seoul had hoped that Wang’s visit could serve as an opportunity for in-depth discussions of issues related to the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea and China. However, South Korea’s decision on March 31 to comply with Taiwan’s request to remove the “China (Taiwan)” label from its e-arrival cards prompted strong protest from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has since reportedly indicated that it will be difficult to arrange a visit by Wang for the time being. In February 2025, Korea’s Justice Ministry added the “China (Taiwan)” label to the last point of departure and next destination fields of e-arrival cards, eliciting strong protests from the Taiwanese government, which demanded that this be corrected. In response, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced late last month that it would remove the option to select a point of departure or destination from e-arrival cards for not just visitors coming from Taiwan, but from all around the world. Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, expressed dissatisfaction with Korea’s response during a press conference on Tuesday, stating, “Taiwan is part of China. It is only right to list it as ‘China (Taiwan).’” A senior official at Seoul’s Foreign Ministry told the Hankyoreh that the e-arrival cards were “not the decisive factor” dictating a visit by Wang, adding that the ministry would “carefully manage all aspects of Korea-China relations.” By Park Min-hee, senior staff writerPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
