South Korea hosts Xi as Chinese leader rekindles fraught ties

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung hosted Xi Jinping for their first meeting yesterday as the Chinese head of state took centre stage and reforged old ties at an Asian summit from which US leader Donald Trump was 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 his meeting with Canada’s premier reset damaged ties. Trump flew to South Korea for the summit but promptly jetted home on Thursday after sealing a trade war pause with Xi, the pair agreeing to dial down a dispute that has roiled markets and disrupted global supply chains.

His departure left the Chinese leader to take centre stage at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he framed Beijing as a responsible power against the chaos unleashed by the United States on the international order. Lee welcomed Xi at a grand opening ceremony complete with soldiers wearing traditional garb.The visit was the Chinese leader’s first since 2014 and comes after years of strained ties over everything from trade to cultural disputes. Lee told Xi he had “long looked forward to meeting you in person” and framed his trip as a reset in relations.

“As our two countries move from a vertical structure of economic cooperation to a more horizontal and mutually beneficial one, we must work together to build a relationship that delivers shared prosperity,” Lee told Xi, whose vast economy represents South Korea’s largest trading partner. Xi, in turn, described China and South Korea as “important neighbours that cannot be moved and also partners that cannot be separated”. He told Lee that the two countries should “respect each other’s societal differences and development paths... (and) resolve contradictions and disagreements through friendly consultation”, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.