A unified Korean Peninsula under control of either government is less threatening to China than a divided one with a U.S. military presence in the South, according to one Chinese expert, characterizing South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s diplomatic engagement with North Korea as “the first step for a better future.”

“China is not worried about Korean reunification,” said Jia Qingguo, an international studies professor at the Peking University in Beijing and a Standing Committee member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. “China hopes that you have reunification.”