President Lee Jae-myung will make a state visit to China for a four-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the 4th of next month. The two leaders will exchange views on ways to expand economic cooperation between the two countries and the situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula.
President Lee will hold a summit and state dinner with President Xi in Beijing from the 4th to the 6th and visit Shanghai from the 6th to the 7th, presidential spokesman Kang Yoo-jung said in a briefing on the 30th. It is the first time in seven years that a South Korean president will visit China since the former president of Moon Jae In in 2019, and the first time in nine years since 2017.
"The leaders of the two countries will meet again more than two months after the Gyeongju Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to solidify the flow of full-scale restoration of the Korea-China strategic cooperation partnership, while discussing concrete achievements that can substantially contribute to people's livelihoods, including supply chains, investment, digital economy, response to transnational crimes, and the environment," Kang said.
Kang added that President Lee will visit Shanghai next year to mark the 150th anniversary of Kim Koo's birth and the 100th anniversary of the construction of the Provisional Government Building.
In the wake of President Lee Jae-myung's state visit to China from the 4th to the 7th of next month, the Korea-China summit in Beijing is expected to focus on the security situation in Northeast Asia and ways to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. Although the leaders will not disagree much on the plan to expand exchanges in the economic and industrial sectors between the two countries, there is a possibility that sensitive diplomatic agendas such as denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and construction of nuclear-powered submarines will be discussed.
Attention is also focusing on whether practical progress can be made in the current issues such as China's West Sea structures, illegal fishing, and the lifting of the 限 Korea-Hanryeong (令 Korea).
According to Cheong Wa Dae on the 30th, this will be the second meeting between President Lee and President Xi Jinping since the Korea-China summit on the 1st of last month. At that time, President Xi made a state visit to Korea for the first time in 11 years to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, and the two leaders confirmed their consensus on the development of Korea-China relations during the 97-minute meeting. This paved the way for the restoration of deteriorated Korea-China relations. At that time, President Xi invited President Lee to China, and President Lee's state visit to China took place in two months.
Like the first meeting, the summit is expected to focus on seeking economic cooperation. The leaders of the two countries will expand opportunities for economic cooperation and discuss the situation in Northeast Asia in a mutually cooperative relationship, presidential spokesman Kang Yoo-jung said.
As China strategically weaponizes rare earths and other key minerals, bilateral cooperation plans will be discussed. China is using export controls of rare earths, which are used in future high-tech industries such as batteries and semiconductors, as leverage for negotiations with competitors such as the United States.
They will also discuss ways to expand investment by Korean companies in China, digital economy such as fintech and cooperation in eco-friendly areas such as solar power generation. Kang said a number of memorandums of understanding will also be signed between ministries of the two countries. Business leaders including Samsung are also expected to accompany him.
There is a possibility that the ban will be on the agenda. The government has reportedly pushed for a large-scale K-pop concert in China in the wake of President Lee's visit to China, but it was not achieved.
The North Korean issue is expected to be on the main agenda in the field of foreign affairs and security. Moon Seong-rak, chief of the National Security Office at the presidential office, told a press conference early this month that next year should be the first year for the leap in inter-Korean relations and that he would make efforts to resume dialogue. While the Lee Jae-myung administration is taking preemptive appeasement measures, including removing loudspeakers and halting radio broadcasting, the North has not shown any significant response. Rather, the North is strengthening its hostile strategy against the South.
In this situation, President Lee is expected to ask President Xi to play a role in creating conditions for North Korea to respond in the wake of the upcoming summit between the U.S. and China in April. Although North Korea and Russia have been close since the war in Ukraine, relations between North Korea and China have been estranged, relations have been restored, with Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jong-un attending the 80th anniversary of China's Victory Day military parade in September. Earlier at the Gyeongju summit, President Lee and President Xi decided to strengthen "strategic communication" to resume inter-Korean dialogue.
With the U.S.-China summit event in mind next year, the government is exploring the possibility of holding dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. and resuming inter-Korean dialogue. "With North Korea not responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal for a meeting, South Korea should expect China's role," said Lee Dong-kyu, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
The issue of nuclear submarine construction could be addressed. Recently, as South Korea and the U.S. began to prepare a separate agreement to build nuclear submarines, Chinese state media have been criticizing. China's state-run Global Times claimed on the 22nd that "the nuclear submarine plan between South Korea and the U.S. is a serious threat to nuclear non-proliferation and could spark an arms race and undermine peace and stability."
Attention is also focusing on whether the two sides will discuss ways to resolve the issue of illegal fishing by Chinese fishing boats and structures in the Yellow Sea. President Lee called it "bad" at the Korea Coast Guard`s briefing on Tuesday and called for a tougher response to illegal fishing boats.
Reporter Han Jae-young jyhan@hankyung.com
Reporter Kim Hyung-gyu khk@hankyung.com
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