President Xi Jinping of China shakes fingers with President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea forward of their summit on the Gyeongju Nationwide Museum in North Gyeongsang Province on Oct. 29, 2025. (Yonhap)
Chinese language President Xi Jinping invited South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to go to China in April of subsequent 12 months, the Hankyoreh has discovered.
The 2 leaders met for his or her first summit on Saturday, the place they took step one in enhancing bilateral relations. Focus is now shifting as to if their assembly in China will open the door to cooperation not solely on Korean Peninsula points however on delicate nationwide safety points.
“Xi invited Lee to go to China throughout their latest summit,” a diplomatic supply conversant in South Korea-China relations stated throughout a telephone name with the Hankyoreh on Tuesday.
“China has two necessary political occasions in March 2026, and Lee’s go to appears to have been timed to occur after these occasions,” the insider stated. The occasions in reference are the Nationwide Folks’s Congress of the Folks’s Republic of China and the Chinese language Folks’s Political Consultative Convention.
The 2026 Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation summit is scheduled to be held in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, in November. If Lee visits China in April, he’ll be capable to go to China twice subsequent 12 months.
US President Donald Trump can also be scheduled to go to China in April, which may current a serious variable in Korean Peninsula affairs.
It’s doubtless that the topic of South Korea pursuing nuclear-powered submarines will probably be a serious matter of debate between Xi and Lee. Throughout Xi’s assembly with Lee in Korea, when the latter defined that the nuclear submarines that South Korea is pursuing are a defensive response to North Korea’s declaration that it already possesses nuclear submarines, and that the submarines should not armed with nuclear weapons, Xi reportedly responded curtly by saying, “Famous.”
Kang Hoon-sik, Lee’s chief of employees, stated on Monday that Lee had “persuaded” Xi to see Korea’s place.
Nevertheless, in a press release issued by China after the summit, Xi stated that the 2 sides ought to “accommodate one another’s core pursuits and main issues.”
That is in alignment with the stance made official by the Chinese language International Ministry, which known as for the US and South Korea to stay as much as their dedication to nuclear nonproliferation and contribute to regional peace and stability whereas noting South Korea’s pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines as a serious concern, indicating that Beijing will alter its response based on how issues progress.
In line with these with information of diplomatic affairs, Xi held off on confirming whether or not he’d go to South Korea forward of the APEC summit, which was his first go to in 11 years, due to his stringent calls for for South Korea to crack down on anti-China demonstrations.
After Lee known as the anti-China protests “rabble-rousing,” dismissing defenses of the rallies as freedom of speech, he then relayed his feedback to China by diplomatic channels and communicated his willpower to rebuild Seoul-Beijing relations. Solely then did Beijing reportedly supply a affirmation of Xi’s go to.
Concerning the cancellation of a reservation at The Shilla lodge by the Chinese language Embassy, sources stated the rationale was due to Trump’s resolution to not cease in Seoul and go on to Busan for a summit with Xi.
By Park Min-hee, senior employees author
Please direct questions or feedback to [english@hani.co.kr]
