The Outcome of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Visit to Seoul
The Outcome of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Visit to Seoul
  • By Kim Yu-na (yuna@koreaittimes.com)
  • 승인 2014.07.23 19:47
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Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent state visit to Seoul has received enormous publicity. Above all, Chinese President Xi Jinping has broken with precedent by visiting South Korea before he goes to strong ally North Korea, quite a departure from China’s traditional ideology-based diplomacy toward the Korean peninsula. In addition, there were high hopes for President Xi Jinping’s “gift package” to include great plans for closer ROK-China economic, diplomatic cooperation.

What was inside fancy wrappings was not so fancy.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Seoul has opened a new chapter in China’s diplomatic protocol, but what came out of his much-publicized state visit had no “wow factor” to many.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Seoul paved the way for Korean companies’ investment in China, such as Hyundai Motor and POSCO. And the signing of an ROK-China FTA is highly likely to take place within this year, which would serve as a boon for S. Korean manufacturers.

S. Korea’s IT and green energy sectors also stand to benefit appreciably from the “Xi Jinping effect.” “The new energy and IT sectors are impressive. I hope to see China’s greater cooperation with Korean companies,” Xi Jinping specifically pointed out.

Yet, some say that his visit stopped short of making a big difference. Hyundai Motor’s plan to build a new production plant in Chongqing and POSCO’s plan to build an integrated steel mill in Chongqing were bound to get off the ground regardless of President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Seoul. Allegedly, most of the Chinese business people among Xi Jinping’s entourage simply enjoyed sightseeing without showing an interest in business deals with S. Korea.

Meanwhile, the S. Korean tourism industry welcomed his visit to S. Korea. In expectation of China’s First Couple’s visit to Seoul encouraging more Chinese tourists to head for S. Korea, Korean travel agencies are contemplating offering relevant tour packages.

 

Forming a united front against North Korea and Japan

Experts on China’s diplomacy and international affairs viewed “reinforced ROK-China alliance against Japan’s rightwingism and militarism as the cream of the crop from President Xi Jinping’s state visit to S. Korea. If ROK-US-Japan cooperation further deepened, China would find itself at a disadvantage in the heated diplomatic rivalry in Northeast Asia. By forging a united front with S. Korea, China prevented S. Korea from overly leaning towards the US and Japan, experts analyzed.

The fact that President Xi Jinping made a visit to S. Korea before visiting the North in a show of China’s strong opposition to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions hinted at subtle changes in China-North Korea relations, experts said.


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