{"id":131331,"date":"2026-08-25T09:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/131331\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T09:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:46:06","slug":"why-was-chinas-response-to-north-koreas-latest-missile-launches-so-muted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/131331\/","title":{"rendered":"Why was China\u2019s response to North Korea\u2019s latest missile launches so muted?"},"content":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s muted response to North Korea\u2019s latest missile launch, which came soon after top diplomat Wang Yi\u2019s visit to Seoul, underscores how Beijing is prioritising Pyongyang\u2019s stability<\/a> over near\u2011term denuclearisation, according to analysts.North Korea started launching more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles just hours after Wang concluded his two-day visit on Thursday<\/a>, the foreign minister\u2019s first official trip to South Korea in nearly five years.<\/p>\n

South Korea and Japan condemned the launch as a provocation.<\/p>\n

Beijing declined to criticise the barrage fired into the sea east of the peninsula, with China\u2019s foreign ministry saying the following day that it had \u201cnoted the reports\u201d and did not have any \u201cnew comment\u201d.<\/p>\n

The launch highlighted the gap between Beijing\u2019s diplomatic engagement<\/a> with both Koreas and its ability, or willingness, to restrain North Korea, said Lee Seong\u2011hyon, a senior fellow at George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations.<\/p>\n

During his meetings in Seoul, Wang urged South Korea to pursue \u201cgenuine strategic autonomy\u201d, avoid taking sides between China and the United States and move towards \u201cpeaceful coexistence\u201d with its northern neighbour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"China\u2019s muted response to North Korea\u2019s latest missile launch, which came soon after top diplomat Wang Yi\u2019s visit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[136,24964,134,66956,890,141,66959,34,129,112,33,66957,1332,1257,66958],"class_list":["post-131331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-seoul","tag-beijing","tag-carnegie-endowment-for-international-peace","tag-china","tag-george-h-w-bush-foundation-for-us-china-relations","tag-japan","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-lee-seong-hyon","tag-north-korea","tag-pyongyang","tag-seoul","tag-south-korea","tag-taiwans-prospect-foundation","tag-us","tag-wang-yi","tag-zhao-tong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}