Reactions mixed as controversial Chinese envoy departs Korea

Outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming’s departure from the post has attracted diplomatic attention, with some calling it a timely end of his tenure and others suggesting it marks an improvement in relations between Seoul and Beijing.

Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming walks into the Foreign Ministry building in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Thursday for a meeting with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul. [YONHAP]

Outgoing Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming’s departure from the post has attracted diplomatic attention, with some calling it a timely end of his tenure and others suggesting it marks an improvement in relations between Seoul and Beijing.

Xing, who took the post of ambassador to Korea in January 2020, will finish his official duties on Wednesday and return to China, according to diplomatic sources on Monday. He paid a courtesy visit to Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul last Thursday.

“I am grateful to the Korean government and everyone I met here during my time in Korea for their help,” Xing told reporters after meeting with Cho. “I have made many friends in Korea, and I will never forget that friendship.”

Although some analysts argue that Xing’s departure represents a natural rotation as he had served as ambassador to Korea for four and a half years and was nearing retirement age, others say he may have been considered a burden on Korea-China relations, which have improved recently.

During his tenure, Xing came under occasional fire for his often outspoken remarks.

During the 2021 Korean presidential election, when then-candidate President Yoon Suk Yeol said the decision to allow the U.S. to deploy its Thaad (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile defense system in South Korea fell within Seoul's sovereignty, Xing publicly objected in a newspaper op-ed, claiming that Thaad had "harmed China’s security interests and the strategic mutual trust between the two countries.”

For this, he was accused of intervening in the presidential election.

During a meeting with Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung in June last year, Xing said that “those who bet” on China’s defeat in its rivalry with the United States “will definitely regret it,” inviting an intense backlash. Some high-ranking Korean officials designated him a “persona non grata,” and the presidential office indirectly requested his replacement by asking China to take “appropriate measures.”

However, as China did not respond, senior Korean officials avoided contact with Xing, and China took similar measures against the Korean Ambassador to China, Jeong Jae-ho, significantly burdening the already chilly relationship between the two countries.

A year later, Xing’s replacement happened to coincide with an improvement in Korea-China relations.

Analysts say China may have naturally decided to replace its ambassador to Seoul as relations between the two countries softened following Cho’s visit to China in May, the Korea-Japan-China summit and the Korea-China diplomatic and security dialogue last month.

However, other observers caution against interpreting Xing’s replacement too highly. They say previous ambassadors from China to Korea usually served terms of three to four years, and Xing has already spent four and a half years in Seoul.

That Xing, who was born in 1964, is approaching retirement age at the end of the year further supports the view that his replacement is a natural move devoid of political significance.

Attention is now focused on who will succeed Xing. Several candidates, including the current Chinese ambassadors to Myanmar and Vietnam, are being mentioned as possible successors, according to sources.

No matter who becomes the next ambassador to Seoul, experts point out that he or she will be unable to stray far from “wolf warrior diplomacy,” a confrontational form of public diplomacy adopted by Chinese diplomats in the 2010s and pushed by the Xi Jinping government.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]