Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called on his visiting South Korean counterpart to join Beijing in making the “right strategic choices” in a world that is “becoming more complex and turbulent,” Chinese state media reported.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung is the first South Korean leader to visit the Chinese capital in six years and his meeting with Xi came a day after nuclear-armed North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.
It also followed a shock US military operation in Caracas that deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro — a raid condemned by Beijing and Pyongyang.
Photo: EPA / Yonhap
Xi yesterday warned that “the world is currently undergoing accelerated changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is becoming more complex and turbulent,” Xinhua news agency reported.
Beijing and Seoul “bear important responsibilities” in upholding peace in the region, Xi said, adding that the sides “have broad common interests.”
“They should firmly stand on the right side of history and make the right strategic choices,” he said.
The South Korean leader said he wished to open a “new phase” in relations, “based on the trust” between himself and Xi.
He vowed to “seek feasible alternatives together for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” footage broadcast by Seoul’s Yonhap news agency showed.
The leaders then witnessed the signing of “15 cooperation documents” spanning technological innovation, the environment, transportation and trade, Xinhua reported.
A state banquet followed the signing of the agreements, the report added.
Lee, accompanied by a delegation of business and tech leaders, hopes to secure pledges to expand economic cooperation with his nation’s largest trading partner.
He has called for South Korea and China to work toward “more horizontal and mutually beneficial” trade.
Lee also met with top executives from both South Korean and Chinese firms at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Yonhap reported.
South Korea and China “have helped each other grow through interconnected industrial supply chains and led the global economy,” he told them.
Earlier, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin urged “open trade” in talks with Xi in Beijing during a five-day visit aimed at strengthening economic ties with the world’s second-largest economy.
Martin’s China trip, the first by an Irish Taoiseach since 2012, comes against the backdrop of trade tensions between China and the EU, of which Ireland is to assume the rotating presidency in July.
“We believe in open trade, in open relationships and in particular in terms of our trading relationship, we believe it’s fundamental that we try and work towards open trade,” Martin told Xi during talks at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. “We all to one degree or another depend on each other, and I think if we can maintain that spirit into the future, our relationship will continue to grow and will continue to strengthen.”
Xi hailed growing bilateral trade and investment between the two nations and called for the “long-term, stable development” of ties.
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