Lee Jae-myung, Xi vow full restoration of relations

Jan 06, 2026, 08:38 am

		0
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during an MOU signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Jan. 5. / Yonhap

President Lee Jae-myung said Monday that South Korea and China share a long history of cooperation, including joint struggles to restore sovereignty, and stressed that this year should mark a full restoration of bilateral relations.

“Over thousands of years, South Korea and China have maintained friendly ties as neighbors, and during periods when our sovereignty was taken away, we stood together and fought to reclaim it,” Lee said. “This summit will serve as an important turning point in making 2026 the first year of a comprehensive restoration of South Korea–China relations.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping echoed the sentiment, saying the two countries, as friends and neighbors, should maintain frequent exchanges and communication. He added that China aims to firmly uphold friendly cooperation with South Korea and place their strategic cooperative partnership on a sound footing based on mutual benefit and shared prosperity.

Lee, who is on a state visit to China, held talks with Xi for about 90 minutes at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The meeting came two months after their previous talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju last November.

Highlighting the depth of bilateral ties since diplomatic normalization, Lee said he hoped to open a new phase in relations together with Xi in line with changing times. He emphasized strengthening public goodwill as the political foundation of ties and advancing the strategic cooperative partnership as an irreversible trend of the era.

Lee also pledged to expand practical, mutually beneficial cooperation in areas directly affecting people’s daily lives and to seek feasible options together for peace on the Korean Peninsula. “Peace is the fundamental foundation of prosperity and growth, and both countries should jointly contribute to it,” he said.

Xi, noting the growing complexity of the international landscape, said South Korea and China bear significant responsibility for safeguarding regional peace and promoting global development, urging both sides to make the right strategic choices while standing on the correct side of history.

Ahead of the summit, China accorded full state honors to Lee, including a 21-gun salute, as he and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung attended a welcoming ceremony at Tiananmen Square. The two leaders later held a banquet, during which Lee presented Xi with gifts including a painting of a qilin, a mythical creature from Chinese legend.

During the visit, the two sides signed 14 memorandums of understanding, including one on digital technology cooperation. A certificate donating a pair of Qing Dynasty-era stone lion sculptures held by the Kansong Art Museum to China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration was also presented under the leaders’ witness.

#Lee Jae-myung #Xi Jinping #South Korea China relations #state visit #strategic partnership