Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit South Korea in next few weeks, Yonhap says

Delayed state visit on course to happen between the end of November and middle of December, news agency says
Trip was planned for the first half of the year but had to be postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak

South Korea

Eduardo Baptista

Published: 10:30pm, 12 Nov 2020

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Chinese President Xi Jinping’s delayed state visit to South Korea is expected to take place between the end of November and the middle of December, the Yonhap News Agency reported on Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Xi was set to visit Seoul in the first half of this year but the trip was put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On a visit to Busan in August, China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi told Suh Hoon, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s national security adviser, that Seoul would be at the top of the list of countries Xi would travel to once the health crisis was under control.

Xi Jinping to visit South Korea ‘as soon as Covid-19 under control’, Seoul says

Moon first invited Xi to visit South Korea in 2018 when the two leaders met at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. He repeated the offer 18 months later at the China-Japan-ROK summit.

Beijing is keen to boost ties with Seoul as its relations with other regional powers, including India, Japan and Australia, have soured in recent months.

China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi (right) meets Suh Hoon, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s national security adviser, in Busan in August. Photo: AP

According to one of the sources quoted by Yonhap, South Korea’s main news agency, the urgency for China to play the South Korea card increased after Xi’s plans to visit Japan were shelved due to Tokyo’s hardening stance on Beijing.

The South China Morning Post reported in July that issues like the national security law in Hong Kong and China’s “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy had soured ties between the two countries.

There have been other signs that Xi’s South Korea trip is imminent. On November 3, China’s ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming told former South Korean prime minister and leader of the ruling Democratic Party Lee Nak-Yeon that Xi’s desire to visit Seoul soon was “unshakeable”.

South Korean president risks rift with US by seeking closer ties with China, political rival warns

The Chinese leader has not visited South Korea since Moon took office in May 2017. At that time, tensions between Beijing and Seoul were riding high because of a decision taken by Moon’s predecessor, Park Geun-hye, the previous year to allow the United States to install an anti-missile system on South Korean soil that Beijing said could be used by Washington for espionage.

China responded by sanctioning a boycott on South Korean consumer goods that remained in place until late 2017.

In the years since then, ties between the two countries have improved steadily, while Seoul’s relationship with Washington has been marred by US President Donald Trump’s demand that Moon’s government pay more for a US military presence in the country.

Both Washington and Seoul are hoping their relationship can improve as a result of Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election.

In a telephone call with Moon on Thursday, Biden called South Korea “the linchpin of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region”, echoing a phrase used by former US president Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice-president.

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