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The US and China clashed over South Korea's participation in the NATO summit to be held in Spain next week.
It is the first time that a non-NATO member of the South Korean leader will attend, but depending on the outcome of the meeting, the backlash from China may increase.
This is Beijing Correspondent Ji-Sung Kim.
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China has set a date that NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is trying to expand its power beyond Europe and into the Asia-Pacific region.
It was clear that the leaders of South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, which are not NATO member states, would oppose attending next week's NATO summit.
[Wang Wenbin / Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson: NATO has already messed up Europe.
We must no longer disturb the Asia-Pacific region and the world.
Asia-Pacific is not a geographical category of the North Atlantic.]
The United States responded that South Korea's participation was not a matter to seek China's consent.
[John Kirby / White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator: China has no veto power over which meeting Korea will attend.
This meeting is not about the Asian version of NATO.]
He warned that global security is connected, and that something like Russia's invasion of Ukraine could happen in the Asia-Pacific region as well.
Along with Russia, China has been identified as a threat to NATO.
It is the first time for a Korean president to attend a NATO meeting, but the position of the presidential office is that it is going to expand and deepen the network in terms of comprehensive security, not a shift to anti-China and anti-Russian policies.
Earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Putin issued a joint statement calling for an end to NATO expansion.
The NATO meeting is likely to adopt a new security strategy aimed at China, so China's backlash is expected to intensify.
(Video coverage: Choi Duk-hyun, video editing: Jung Yong-hwa, CG: Kim Hong-sik)