South Korea and China on Tuesday agreed to enhance bilateral defense cooperation to help secure denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula in line with their strategic partnership signed in 2008.

During their talks in Beijing, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo and Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Chief of General Staff Gen. Fang Fenghui agreed to set a telephone communication system for regular top-level dialogue.

They also agreed to bolster their cooperation in global operations such anti-piracy and peace-keeping missions through regular high-level talks, and to continue their consultation over participating in each other’s military drills.

“The representatives of the two countries have shared the view that they would strengthen strategic cooperation in the military realm to match the level of strategic partnership (signed in 2008),” Seoul’s JCS said in a press release.

Using a C-130 military aircraft, Jung flew to Beijing for a two-day visit on the day. It is the first time that the top military leaders of the two countries have held bilateral talks since 2007.

Observers said the bilateral agreement to enhance security cooperation is crucial as critics have argued that despite the considerable improvement in economic and cultural ties, the two states have failed to make progress in their security cooperation.

During the talks, the two also exchanged views on North Korea’s recent provocative movements that have sharply raised military tensions on the peninsula. Jung sought China’s support for Seoul’s policy toward its provocative northern neighbor.

Pyongyang carried out a third nuclear test in February following a successful long-range rocket launch in December. In recent months, it has churned out a slew of bellicose statements warning of nuclear strikes against what it calls hostile forces including South Korea and the U.S.

The military talks between the two countries would lay the groundwork for a wider bilateral cooperation on North Korea issues, which will top the agenda for the summit President Park Geun-hye will have with her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing later this month.

Seoul and Washington have long sought to deepen security cooperation with Beijing over its wayward ally Pyongyang.

Amid North Korea’s escalating nuclear and missile threats, China has recently joined the international efforts to rein in the North. Beijing has joined U.N. Security Council sanctions to punish the North’s recent nuclear test and has stopped doing business with some North Korean banks.

Despite such headway in South Korea-China security cooperation, some analysts remained skeptical of it, arguing there would be challenges to the security ties amid the increasing Sino-U.S. rivalry in the Asia-Pacific.

Following Pyongyang’s recent saber-rattling moves, Washington ― South Korea’s core security ally ― has sought to strengthen missile defense against it, which China fears could target its continent.

On top of it, China apparently sees Washington’s refocus on the strategically crucial Asia-Pacific region as part of a campaign to encircle it or encroach upon its sphere of influence, experts noted.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)