South Korean President Lee Jae Myung arrives in Beijing for a four-day visit, aiming to strengthen economic ties while navigating sensitive issues like Taiwan and North Korea.
BEIJING: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung arrived in China on Sunday, seeking to bolster economic cooperation while carefully managing tensions over Taiwan.
His four-day visit is the first by a South Korean leader to Beijing in six years.
It follows massive Chinese military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as part of its territory.
Seoul notably declined to join international condemnation of the exercises.
Lee hopes to expand economic ties in meetings with President Xi Jinping and other top officials.
He also aims to harness China’s influence over North Korea to support his bid to improve relations with Pyongyang.
Hours before Lee’s departure, Seoul’s military said the North had fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan.
Seoul has long balanced relations with China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor.
Analyst Kang Jun-young said Beijing now views South Korea as “the weakest link” amid strengthening US-Japan-South Korea cooperation.
Lee has avoided taking sides in regional disputes.
He deftly stayed on the sidelines of a recent spat between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan.
“Taking sides only worsens tensions,” he told journalists last month.
Lee has also long dodged questions about potential South Korean intervention in a Taiwan conflict.
In a recent interview with Chinese state media, Lee affirmed the importance of respecting the ‘one-China’ principle.
He said maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait is “very important”.
On economic ties, Lee has called for “more horizontal and mutually beneficial” trade.
He is accompanied by a large business delegation including executives from Samsung and Hyundai.
The delegation also includes figures from South Korea’s entertainment and gaming industries.
Officials hope the visit will lead China to ease an unofficial ban on South Korean pop culture imports.
A summit with Xi is planned for Monday, followed by trade talks with Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday.
Lee will then travel to Shanghai to attend a startup summit and visit a historic Korean site.
Xi and Lee last met in November on the sidelines of a regional summit in South Korea.
Seoul framed that meeting as a reset after years of tense relations.
