Xi Jinping and Lee Jae-myung discuss trade and North Korea to reopen dialogue
South Korea’s new president and the Chinese leader spoke on the phone for about 30 minutes. China insists on the importance of “multilateralism” against the backdrop of Trump’s tariffs. South Korea calls on Xi to play a “constructive role” in the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – Chinese President Xi Jinping had his first phone conversation with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jae-myung, since the latter’s electoral victory earlier this month.
During the easygoing, 30-minute exchange, the Chinese leader stressed the importance for the two countries to work together on several issues, from free trade to the defence of “multilateralism”. In turn, Lee asked Xi to play a “constructive role” in the process of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, over which hangs North Korea’s nuclear threat.
President Lee invited Xi to travel to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which will be held in the southeastern city of Gyeongju in November.
For his part, the Chinese president said that Beijing and Seoul should "inject more certainty into regional and international situations", Xinhua reported, as well as “promote strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level".
“A healthy, stable, and continuously deepening China-South Korea relationship aligns with the trend of the times," Xi noted.
This calls for “Close bilateral cooperation and multilateral coordination” between the two countries to “jointly uphold multilateralism and free trade, ensuring the stability and smooth functioning of global and regional industrial and supply chains”.
This runs against policies pursued by US President Donald Trump who, after his arrival at the White House, launched a real trade war that worries China.
“Lee expressed hope that South Korea and China will actively promote exchanges and cooperation in various areas, including the economy, security, culture and people-to-people exchanges, based on the spirit of mutual benefit and equality,” said South Korean residential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung.
The phone call between Lee and Xi comes at a time of deep tensions between South and North Korea. The latter appears uninterested in Seoul's overtures nor Trump's offer of dialogue to Kim Jong-un, because of Pyongyang's growing alignment with Russia.
Active North Korean-Russian collaboration is not only economic but also military, including the deployment of North Korean soldiers in Moscow’s war with Ukraine.
According to China's Xinhua news agency, Xi said that the two countries should also promote their “strategic cooperation partnership to a higher level".
The conversation marked Lee's first official talk with Xi and his third with a foreign leader after the phone calls with US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Lee’s “pragmatic diplomacy” requires a delicate balance between Washington, Seoul’s traditional military ally, and Beijing, its largest trading partner, amid growing rivalry between the two superpowers.
This represents a change from the recent past. Ties between Seoul and Beijing had soured after former President Yoon Suk Yeol increasingly aligned himself with the United States and boosted trilateral cooperation with Japan.
During the recent election campaign, Lee called for improved ties with Beijing and insisted that South Korea should keep its distance from sensitive diplomatic and military issues that involve China and Taiwan.
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