South Korea hosts Xi as Chinese leader rekindles fraught ties

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South Korea hosts XI as Chinese leader revives total repression

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung hosted Xi Jinping for their first meeting on Saturday as the Chinese head of state took center stage and revived old ties at an Asian summit that saw US leader Donald Trump largely absent.

The talks on the sidelines of the APEC gathering came on the final day of XI’s first trip to South Korea in more than a decade and a day after Canada’s first reset of strained ties.

Trump flew to South Korea for the summit but quickly jetted home on Thursday after sealing a truce in the trade war with 11, the pair agreeing to end a dispute that has rocked markets and affected global supply chains.

His departure left the Chinese leader to take center stage at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he called Beijing a responsible power against the United States’ continued chaos over the international order.

Lee welcomed the XI in an opening ceremony complete with soldiers in traditional dress.

The visit was the first by a Chinese leader since 2014 and comes after years of strained relations over everything from trade to cultural disputes.

Lee told Eleven that he had “been looking forward to meeting you in person for a long time” and framed his trip as a reset in the relationship.

“As our two countries move from a vertical structure of economic cooperation to a more horizontal and mutually beneficial one, we should work together to build a relationship that provides shared prosperity,” Lee told Eleven, “whose vast economy represents South Korea’s largest trading partner.”

XI, in turn, described China and South Korea as “important neighbors who cannot be moved and partners who cannot be separated”.

He told Li that the two countries should “respect each other’s social differences and development paths … (and) resolve contradictions and differences through friendly consultation”, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Rekindle the relationship

Lee also pitched China in Seoul’s partnership to revive strained relations with North Korea, with which it remains technically at war.

Stressing the need for “stability” in the region, Lee noted “recent high-level exchanges between China and North Korea”—an apparent reference to leader Kim Jong-un’s recent attendance at a major military parade in Beijing.

The meetings, Lee said, “are helping to create the conditions for renewed engagement with Pyongyang”.

“I hope that South Korea and China will strengthen strategic communication … and work together to start dialogue with the North,” Lee told 11.

Ahead of their meeting, Pyongyang dismissed Seoul’s hopes of denial as a “pipedream” that “can never be realized even if it talks about it a thousand times”.

South Korea’s National Security Adviser Y Sang-lak said Xi had confirmed to Lee that China would “continue efforts to help resolve issues and promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula”.

South Korea and China have renewed their 70 trillion won ($49 billion) currency swap agreement for another five years, Seoul said during the visit to XI, adding that it hoped the agreement would “help stabilize the financial and foreign exchange markets of both countries”.

The two countries also signed several MoUs, including joint responses to voice phishing and online scams, Seoul said.

Passing the baton

Li earlier passed the APEC baton to XI, which will host next year’s summit in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

With the US president absent, XI has used APEC to reach out to countries with which Beijing has had frosty relations.

He met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the event on Friday, the first official talks between the leaders of the two countries since 2017.

Eleven told the Liberal leader they were committed to working together to get relations back on the “right track” and invited Carney to China.

Carney described the meeting as a “major point” in relations between Ottawa and Beijing.

Canada’s relationship with China is the worst of any Western nation.

However, they may find common ground as they are both on the sharp end of Trump’s tariff attack, even after XI and the US leader agreed to dial back tensions on Thursday.

Carney said on Saturday that he had apologized to Trump for targeting former US leader Ronald Reagan in a speech that sent the president into a rage, leading him to cancel trade talks and slap additional 10 per cent tariffs on Canada.

Carney said trade talks would resume when the U.S. was “ready.”

And, he said, he has accepted Eleven’s invitation to watch “in the new year.”

Eleven also sat down on Friday with Japan’s new premier, Sana Takeichi, who has long been seen as Chinahawk.

She told Eleven that she wanted a “strategic and mutually beneficial relationship.”