Chinese Foreign Minister Warns South Korea About Cold War Thinking If They Join Five Eyes Intelligence Pact

It appears the Chinese Foreign Minister has made it clear to South Korea to not join the U.S. led Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement:

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi dismissed the U.S.-led Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance as an “outdated” byproduct of the Cold War era, speaking to reporters in Seoul after talks with his South Korean counterpart Wednesday.  
   
Wang, also a Chinese state councilor, held bilateral talks Wednesday with Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula and other bilateral, regional and global issues, and later paid a courtesy call on President Moon Jae-in.  
   
His two-day visit comes amid intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry and concerns over North Korea’s latest missile provocations as Seoul has been trying to bring Pyongyang back to the dialogue table.  
   
Addressing speculation that South Korea may be asked to join the Five Eyes mechanism involving the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Wang told reporters, “I think that is completely a byproduct of the Cold War era. It is already outdated.”  
   
The Five Eyes program dates back to U.S. and British intelligence cooperation during World War II and evolved during the Cold War era as a mechanism for monitoring the Soviet Union. A recent U.S. House bill seeks to expand the U.S.-led intelligence-sharing program to include South Korea, Japan, India and Germany. An expansion of the exclusive Five Eyes network could be reflective of U.S. efforts to unite its allies to counter China’s growing dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

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