South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said yesterday that he wants to open a “new phase” for relations with China, after meeting President Xi Jinping during Lee’s first trip to Beijing since taking office in June.
“This summit will be an important opportunity to make 2026 the first year of full-scale restoration of Korea-China relations,” Lee said.
“I believe that efforts to develop the strategic co-operation and partnership between the two countries into an irreversible trend of the times will continue.”
It was Lee’s second meeting with Xi in just two months, a sign of Beijing’s keen interest in boosting economic collaboration and tourism with Seoul as China’s relations with Northeast Asia’s other big economy Japan have reached the lowest point in years in a dispute over policy towards Taiwan.
“More than 80 years ago, China and South Korea made tremendous national sacrifices and won the victory against Japanese militarism,” Xi told Lee, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.
The two countries should “safeguard peace and stability in Northeast Asia,” Xi added.
Hours before the visit, North Korea launched at least two ballistic missiles, its first such launches in two months.
Leader Kim Jong Un cited the need for Pyongyang to maintain a powerful nuclear deterrent.
Xi, citing an “increasingly chaotic and complicated international situation”, said China and South Korea should make “correct strategic choices”.
Xi’s comments suggested China wants Seoul to side with Beijing rather than Washington over cross-strait relations with Taiwan, and respect Beijing’s position regarding the US seizure of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, said Seok Byoung-hoon, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
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