South Korea's Lee Jae Myung meets China's Xi as he seeks to reset ties

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung is meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping as he seeks to reset frayed ties with his country’s biggest trading partner.

Regional security and Beijing’s unofficial ban on Korean pop culture are also on the agenda for Monday’s meeting, which is their second summit since November, when Xi visited South Korea.

Given what a vital economic partner China is, experts say Lee is looking for assurances that it would not weaponise that relationship in the face of political tensions in the region.

For weeks, China and Japan have been engaged in a diplomatic row over the former’s claim on self-governed Taiwan, which puts Seoul, a key regional power, in an awkward spot.

Beijing ramped up the rhetoric against Japan after its prime minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in parliament that Tokyo could respond with its own self defence force in case of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

So visiting Beijing at this time is a significant move for Lee. Like Japan, South Korea too is an ally of the US, which supports Taiwan and supplies arms for its defence.

Xi is expected to hold a welcoming ceremony for Lee in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, state-run CCTV reports.

Lee, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday, will then meet China’s Premier Li Qiang and the chairman of parliament, Zhao Leji, before flying to Shanghai.

Speaking before Korean residents in Beijing on Sunday, Lee said his visit would “serve as a new starting point to fill in the gaps in Korea-China relations, restore them to normal and upgrade them to a new level”.

This is the first visit by a South Korean leader since 2019. The relationship soured under Lee’s predecessor, impeached ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was very critical of China.

On the other side, Xi’s eagerness to meet Lee signals the pressure he faces in finding a regional ally, Park Seung-chan, professor of China studies at Yongin University told the BBC.

“China may beat around the bush but its demand is clear: side with China and denounce Japan.”

Beijing has been leveraging the two countries’ shared history of fighting against Japan during the 20th Century, Mr Park said. Lee is expected to hold a memorial service in Shanghai for activists who fought for Korea’s independence from Japan.

While Korea is “still showing all its deference towards China”, it wants to “strengthen its relationships with both Japan and China”, Mr Park added.

Seoul has long walked a diplomatic tightrope between Beijing and Tokyo. Lee is reportedly planning to visit Japan later this month to meet Takaichi. And on Friday, South Korea’s national security director Wi Sung-lac told reporters the country “respects the One China policy” – the diplomatic acknowledgment that Beijing is the only Chinese government.

Security on the Korean Peninsula will also be part of the discussions with China, Wi told reporters.

Lee has sought to engage North Korea diplomatically, but there has been little progress so far. He needs Chinese cooperation in pressuring the North’s Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons. Beijing is the dictator’s biggest supporter, economically and diplomatically, Russia aside.

“China is a very important cooperative partner in moving toward peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said on Sunday.

Earlier in the day Seoul’s military said Pyongyang fired ballistic missiles off its east coast. And on Monday the North’s state news agency said the country test-fired hypersonic missiles to assess deterrence capabilities following recent developments, a reference to the US’s capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro over the weekend.

It remains unclear how much Lee will be able to push China on North Korea. In September, Xi had pledged to strengthen Beijing’s “traditional friendship” with Pyongyang.

And Seoul and Beijing are not natural allies.

US troops have been stationed in South Korea for decades in case of an attack from the North, and last year the two sides agreed to cooperate on building nuclear-powered submarines. The announcement drew warnings from China.

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

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

Persuading Beijing to lift these restrictions is said to be high on Lee’s agenda. China is a massive market for Korean entertainment, which is already a huge global success.

Lee will also be seeking to put a stop to China’s build-up of maritime structures in waters between the two countries. Beijing says the structures are fish-farming equipment, but they have sparked security concerns in Seoul.