Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to a state visit in Beijing, signalling China\u2019s desire to reinforce relations with South Korea amid regional turbulence.<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s national security adviser, Wi Sung-lac, told reporters on Friday that Lee will meet Xi in Beijing on Monday before travelling to Shanghai to visit the historic site of South Korea\u2019s provisional government during Japan\u2019s 35-year colonial rule.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Wi said the leaders are expected to discuss \u201cpractical cooperation\u201d in areas including supply-chain investment, tourism, and responses to transnational crime, according to Yonhap News Agency.<\/p>\n Lee is also expected to persuade China to take a \u201cconstructive\u201d role in achieving \u201ca breakthrough in resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula\u201d, Wi added.<\/p>\n It will be the second meeting between Xi and Lee in just two months, in what analysts have described as an unusually short interval, reflecting Beijing\u2019s interest in bolstering ties before the next meeting between the leaders of South Korea and Japan takes place.<\/p>\n Relations between China and Japan remain at a low point after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could provoke a military response from Tokyo.<\/p>\n On Friday, Wi reaffirmed South Korea\u2019s position on Taiwan, saying the country does \u201crespect the one China policy and act in accordance with that position\u201d. The position acknowledges Beijing\u2019s view that Taiwan remains part of its sovereign territory, while allowing for separate ties with the self-governing island.<\/p>\n Kang Jun-young, a professor of political economics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said \u201cChina wants to emphasise South Korea\u2019s importance slightly more than before.<\/p>\n \u201cChina appears to have strategically decided that it would be better to have [Lee] visit China before South Korea holds a summit with Japan again,\u201d Kang told the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n For its part, the Lee administration has stressed its goal of \u201crestoring\u201d ties with China, which remains South Korea\u2019s largest trading partner. At the same time, it has said Lee\u2019s approach of \u201cpractical diplomacy\u201d aims to maintain strong ties with Japan and the United States, South Korea\u2019s most important ally.<\/p>\n Under Lee\u2019s predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, Seoul leaned closer to Washington and Tokyo and increased criticism of China\u2019s stance on Taiwan.<\/p>\n Lee, in contrast, has said he will not take sides in the dispute between China and Japan, a position he maintains as tensions around the Taiwan Strait rise following Beijing\u2019s recent large-scale military drills near Taiwan.<\/p>\n The two leaders may also address contentious issues such as efforts to modernise the South Korea-US alliance, which some see as a counterbalance to China\u2019s dominance in the Asia Pacific region, according to Shin Beom-chul, a former South Korean vice defence minister and senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute.<\/p>\n Currently, roughly 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea to deter threats from North Korea. US officials have signalled plans to make those forces more flexible in responding to other regional challenges, including Taiwan and China\u2019s growing military reach.<\/p>\n \u201cKorea is not simply responding to threats on the peninsula,\u201d General Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea, said at a forum on December 29. \u201cKorea sits at the crossroads of broader regional dynamics that shape the balance of power across Northeast Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n As China remains North Korea\u2019s principal ally and economic lifeline, experts expect Lee to seek Beijing\u2019s assistance in encouraging dialogue with Pyongyang.<\/p>\n North Korea dismissed Lee\u2019s outreach last year, calling him a \u201chypocrite\u201d and \u201cconfrontational maniac\u201d.<\/p>\n China and North Korea have, in turn, continued closer coordination, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appearing alongside Xi at a major military parade in September.<\/p>\n Lee\u2019s visit is also expected to focus on cooperation in critical minerals, supply chains, and green industries, his office said.<\/p>\n Nearly half of South Korea\u2019s rare earth minerals, which are essential for semiconductor production, come from China. The trading partner accounts for a third of Seoul\u2019s annual chip exports, its largest market.<\/p>\n Last month, officials from both countries agreed to work towards stable rare earth supplies. The visit may also explore partnerships in AI and advanced technologies.<\/p>\n Huawei Technologies plans to launch its Ascend 950 AI chips in South Korea next year, providing an alternative to US-based Nvidia for Korean firms, Huawei\u2019s South Korea CEO, Balian Wang, said at a news conference last month.<\/p>\n Another potential topic is Beijing\u2019s effective ban on K-pop content, which stretches back to 2017 following the deployment of the US\u2019s THAAD missile defence system in South Korea.<\/p>\n SM Entertainment\u2019s chief executive, who heads one of the country\u2019s leading K-pop agencies, will join Lee\u2019s business delegation, according to local media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to a state visit in Beijing, signalling China\u2019s desire to reinforce relations with South Korea amid regional turbulence. South Korea\u2019s national security adviser, Wi Sung-lac, told reporters on Friday that Lee will meet Xi in Beijing on Monday before travelling to Shanghai to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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