China’s Li and South Korea’s Yoon agree to launch a diplomatic and security dialogue and resume free trade negotiations.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang and his South Korean host, President Yoon Suk-yeol, agreed to launch a diplomatic and security dialogue and resume negotiations on a free trade agreement a day before their trilateral summit with the Prime Minister. Japanese Minister Fumio Kishida.
The three leaders’ meeting Monday is their first three-way talks in more than four years. It comes as South Korea and Japan work to repair ties damaged by historic disputes, while deepening a trilateral security partnership with the United States. intensifying Sino-American rivalry.
On Sunday afternoon, Yoon met with Li, who is making his first visit to South Korea since taking office in March 2023.
“China and South Korea face significant common challenges in international affairs,” Yoon said, pointing to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as sources of increased uncertainty in the global economy.
Yoon told Li that the two countries should work together to address these common challenges.
“Just as Korea and China have jointly overcome various difficulties over the past 30 years and contributed to each other’s development and growth, I hope to continue to strengthen bilateral cooperation even in the face of complex global crises. ‘today,’ Yoon said, according to his spokesperson. desk.
Li told Yoon that their countries should oppose turning economic and trade issues into political or security issues and should strive to maintain stable supply chains, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported .
Ease regional tensions
In recent years, Chinese leaders and diplomats have frequently condemned the United States and its allies, including South Korea and Japan, for their export controls targeting their semiconductor industries, calling on those countries to stop to “excessively exceed the concept of national security”.
Since 2021, Chinese companies and state-owned entities have been increasingly deprived of easy market access. the most advanced chips in the worldmany of which are produced by South Korean tech giants like Samsung and SK Hynix.
Li expressed hope for continued efforts to “build consensus and resolve differences” through “equal dialogue and sincere communications.”
In another meeting with Kishida, Yoon praised progress in diplomatic, economic and cultural exchanges with Japan, and they agreed to strengthen ties next year when the two countries celebrate the 60th anniversary of their union. normalize relationshipsYoon’s office said.
Li and Kishida also had a separate bilateral meeting, during which the Japanese leader stressed that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait were very important to Tokyo.
According to the Reuters news agency, Kishida also asked Li for the early release of a Japanese national imprisoned in China.
The three neighbors had agreed to hold a summit every year starting in 2008 to strengthen regional cooperation, but bilateral disputes and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this initiative. Their last trilateral summit took place at the end of 2019.
There are few expected announcements or significant progress at Monday’s meeting, but leaders expressed hope it could help ease regional tensions.
