South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung will travel to China early next week for summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a visit that underscores Seoul’s effort to stabilise relations with its largest trading partner amid wider regional tensions.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, Lee is due to leave for Beijing on January 4 for meetings with the Chinese leader before travelling on to Shanghai on January 6. He is expected to return to South Korea the following day, according to the Korean presidential office. The visit will be Lee’s first trip to China since taking office in June and the first state visit by a South Korean president to the country in eight years.
The summit will be the second meeting between Lee and Xi in just over two months, following their encounter on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit held in Gyeongju in November. Officials in Seoul say the discussions are intended to build momentum towards restoring a more comprehensive strategic partnership between the two neighbours.
Talks are expected to focus on deepening economic cooperation, with particular attention to supply chains, digital industries and cross-border investment. The two leaders are also likely to address collaboration on issues that have a direct impact on citizens, including responses to transnational crime, Yonhap adds.
The trip comes as Lee has pledged to pursue a pragmatic and predictable approach towards Beijing, at a time when South Korea is seeking Chinese support for renewed dialogue with North Korea. Seoul has repeatedly urged China to use its influence in Pyongyang to help ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a position Beijing has said it broadly supports.
While in Shanghai, it is understood Lee will attend events marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Kim Gu, a leading figure in Korea’s independence movement, as well as the centenary of the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in the city during Japan’s colonial rule.
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