South Korea’s Lee Jae-myung will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping as he seeks to repair strained relations with South Korea’s largest trading partner.

Regional security and Beijing’s unofficial ban on South Korean pop culture are also on the agenda for Monday’s meeting, the second between the two countries since Xi Jinping visited South Korea in November.

Experts say Lee is seeking assurances that the relationship will not be weaponized amid political tensions in the region, given that China is an important economic partner.

China and Japan have been locked in a diplomatic spat for weeks over China’s assertion of autonomy over Taiwan, putting Seoul, a major regional power, in an awkward position.

Beijing stepped up its rhetoric against Japan after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in parliament that Tokyo could respond with its own self-defense forces if China attacked Taiwan.

So visiting Beijing at this time is a major move for Lee Myung-bak. Like Japan, South Korea is an ally of the United States, which supports Taiwan and provides weapons for its defense.

Lee Hsien Loong arrived in Beijing on Sunday and will attend a banquet hosted by Xi Jinping on Monday. He will then meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Zhao Leji before flying to Shanghai.

Speaking to the South Korean people in Beijing, Lee Jae-yong said that his visit will “become a new starting point to fill the gap in South Korea-China relations, restore normalcy and elevate it to a new level.”

This is the first visit to China by a South Korean leader since 2019. Relations between the two countries deteriorated under Lee Myung-bak’s predecessor, Yun Seok-yeol, the former president who was a harsh critic of China.

Park Seung-chan, a professor of Chinese studies at Yongin University, told the BBC that Xi Jinping’s eagerness to meet Lee Myung-bak shows that he is under pressure to find regional allies.

“China may beat around the bush, but its demands are clear: stand with China and condemn Japan.”

Mr Park said Beijing had been exploiting the two countries’ shared history of fighting Japan in the 20th century. Lee Myung-bak is expected to hold a memorial service for Korean independence activists in Shanghai.

Mr Park added that while South Korea “still shows respect for China”, it wanted to “strengthen relations with Japan and China”.

Seoul has long walked a diplomatic tightrope between Beijing and Tokyo. According to reports, Li plans to visit Japan later this month to meet with high school students. Wi Sung-lac, director of South Korea’s National Security Agency, told reporters on Friday that South Korea “respects national security.” one china policy” – Diplomatic recognition of Beijing as the sole Chinese government.

Security issues on the Korean peninsula will also be part of discussions with China, Wei told reporters.

Lee Myung-bak has been seeking diplomatic engagement with North Korea, but has made little progress so far. He needs China’s cooperation to force North Korea’s Kim Jong-un to give up his nuclear weapons. Besides Russia, Beijing is the dictator’s biggest supporter, both economically and diplomatically.

“China is a very important partner in moving the Korean peninsula towards peace and reunification,” Lee said at an event with North Korean residents in Beijing.

On Sunday, Seoul’s military said Pyongyang had launched ballistic missiles off its east coast. North Korea test-fired a hypersonic missile to assess its war deterrence capabilities in the face of geopolitical developments, North Korea’s KCNA news agency said on Monday.

Pyongyang has condemned the U.S. arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as a “serious violation of sovereignty.”

It is unclear to what extent Lee Myung-bak can push China forward on North Korea. In September, Xi Jinping pledged to strengthen the “traditional friendship” between Beijing and Pyongyang.

Seoul and Beijing are not natural allies.

U.S. troops have been stationed in South Korea for decades to protect against North Korean attacks, and last year the two countries agreed to cooperate in building nuclear-powered submarines. The announcement prompted warnings from China.

There are other pain points, such as China’s unofficial restrictions on Korean music and drama that have been in place for a decade. K-pop and Korean dramas are either unavailable or difficult to access on Chinese media platforms.

While China has never acknowledged the ban on South Korean artists, it is believed to be a protest against South Korea’s decision to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system in 2016, which China views as a threat to its military operations in the region.

Persuading Beijing to lift the restrictions is said to be at the top of Lee’s agenda. China is a huge market for the Korean entertainment industry, which has achieved great success around the world.

Lee will also seek to prevent China from building offshore structures in the waters between the two countries. Beijing says the structures are fish farming equipment, but they have raised safety concerns in Seoul.