Xinhua News Agency, Seoul, October 29High-end interview | Willing to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between South Korea and China to create tangible results for the people of both countries – Interview with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung
Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Rui and Zhang Can
At the invitation of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, President Xi Jinping will go to Gyeongju, South Korea from October 30 to November 1 to attend the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and pay a state visit to South Korea. In an exclusive written interview with Xinhua News Agency a few days ago, Lee expressed his willingness to work with President Xi Jinping to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between South Korea and China and create results that the people of both countries can personally feel.
Li Zaiming pointed out that President Xi Jinping’s attendance at the 32nd APEC Leaders’ Informal Meeting is “of great significance to using APEC as a bridge to strengthen regional cooperation leading to the future.” When President Xi Jinping attends this meeting, he will pay a state visit to South Korea for the first time in 11 years and hold his first head-of-state meeting with the leader of South Korea’s new government, which “is also of special significance at the bilateral level.”
“I will work with President Xi Jinping to seek a plan to continue to promote the mature development of the strategic cooperative partnership between South Korea and China despite the drastic changes in the internal and external environment since the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China.” Lee Jae-myung said, “Both President Xi Jinping and I started from the local government to interact with the people and implement the ‘people’s livelihood is the most important thing’ “
Talking about his expectations for President Xi Jinping’s visit, Lee Jae-myung hoped that the two sides would discuss in depth specific plans to strengthen practical cooperation in the field of people’s livelihood, expand consultation channels for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, and accelerate negotiations to make practical progress in the negotiations on the service investment field of the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement, so as to create a new institutional foundation for economic and trade cooperation.
Li Zaiming said that China and South Korea, as major global economies, are partners in promoting regional development and prosperity. At present, China remains South Korea’s largest trading partner and a core partner in ensuring the stability of the supply chain. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China in 1992, they have formed a complementary industrial structure and supply chain and have carried out close cooperation. On this basis, the two countries still maintain and continue to develop trade and investment relations despite the current uncertainty faced by the global economy. Such active economic and trade exchanges inject impetus into the Asia-Pacific region and even the global industry and economy.
“The two countries agree that they should continue to strengthen cooperation in the industry and supply chain, and will use this consensus to effectively benefit the people of the two countries.” Li Zaiming said, “I look forward to having an in-depth discussion with President Xi Jinping on the cooperation plan for the industry and supply chain.”
Li Zaiming also expected the two sides to strengthen cooperation in culture, environment and other fields, improve the “quality of life” of the people of the two countries, and continue to work hard to expand personnel exchanges.
Regarding the situation on the Korean Peninsula, Lee Jae-myung said that he will work with China to strengthen strategic communication between the two countries and achieve denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula based on the consensus that peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula are in the common interests of South Korea and China. “On issues of peace, we urgently need China to play a constructive role in order to substantively resolve the nuclear issue on the peninsula and build peace on the Korean peninsula.”
This year is the first time in 20 years that South Korea will host the APEC Leaders’ Informal Meeting. Lee Jae-myung said that as the host, South Korea is committed to reviving the willingness of APEC member economies to cooperate through this meeting, promoting the implementation of various cooperation projects to achieve common prosperity and development, and making APEC a “effective cooperation platform.”
He said that most APEC member economies are facing issues such as AI (artificial intelligence) innovation and demographic changes, and this year’s meeting will seek solutions and cooperation models in this regard. “The efforts of one economy alone are still limited when it comes to AI innovation or responding to demographic changes. The best solutions can only be found when all parties come together to share excellent policies and explore diverse policy options.”
“I will consult closely with APEC member economies, including China, to make APEC a multilateral platform that not only discusses trade and investment, but also discusses future economic and trade-related issues such as AI and demographic structure,” Li Zaiming said.
Li Zaiming expressed “very happy” that China will serve as the host of APEC in 2026. He emphasized that both South Korea and China support building APEC into an open, dynamic, strong, and peaceful Asia-Pacific community and can promote mutual cooperation within the APEC framework. “The experience of South Korea and China in growing and developing together in various fields will be of great help in achieving APEC’s goal of ‘common prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.'”
“In order for China to successfully lead next year’s APEC meeting, South Korea will provide assistance. In particular, it will support China in continuing to explore and develop the topics of AI cooperation and coping with demographic changes proposed by South Korea,” he said.
Talking about his experience of visiting China, Lee Jae-myung said that he visited China many times while serving as the mayor of Seongnam and the governor of Gyeonggi Province. In 2016, he signed a sister city agreement between Seongnam City and Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, China. In 2017, he attended the Summer Davos Forum held in Dalian and visited Chongqing in 2019. “There are many things that impressed me deeply.”
“China’s splendid culture and economic development have left a deep impression on me, from which I can look forward to a bright future for South Korea-China relations,” he said.
Lee Jae-myung emphasized that in order to correctly set the development direction of South Korea-China relations and maintain the momentum of mutually beneficial cooperation, it is particularly important to deepen political mutual trust and maintain strategic communication through mutual visits between the two heads of state. “If I have the opportunity, I also hope to pay a return visit to China as soon as possible and communicate closely with President Xi Jinping again.”
Looking forward to the future economic and technological cooperation between the two countries, Li Zaiming said that with the substantial improvement of China’s industrial competitiveness and high-tech capabilities, competition between enterprises of the two countries has become increasingly prominent. “However, I believe that South Korea and China can pool their wisdom to promote the mature development of the strategic partnership between the two countries based on ‘good-faith competition’ and ‘equal cooperation.’ In particular, I believe that the two countries urgently need to explore new complementary cooperation models in the economic and trade field to further stimulate the vitality of their enterprises and industries.”
“Taking President Xi Jinping’s state visit to South Korea as an opportunity, we will work hard to push the cooperation between the two countries to a higher level and develop in the direction of making practical contributions to each other’s ‘people’s livelihood issues’ and ‘peace issues.'” Lee Jae-myung said.
