As Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Korea for the first time in 11 years on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, China has also moved to highlight its ties with Korea through state media.
China's state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 28th ran an article headlined with Xi's past remark that "China and Korea are close neighbors who cannot move," and said, "Bilateral relations are currently at an important juncture of improvement and development."
Xinhua said, "China and Korea are geographically close, culturally connected, emotionally close, and economically integrated," adding, "China and Korea are close neighbors who cannot move and inseparable cooperation partners."
It continued, "In the 33 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992, trade between China and Korea has increased more than 60-fold," emphasizing that "China has been Korea's largest trading partner for 21 consecutive years, and Korea is China's second-largest trading partner." The two countries are accelerating phase two negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) and are also cooperating in areas such as advanced manufacturing, biopharmaceuticals, and artificial intelligence (AI).
Xinhua also introduced the intertwined history between the two countries. It said the two countries' militaries and people fought together during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, and they also shared life and death during the war against Japan. It recalled that when Xi last visited Korea, he enumerated such anecdotes in detail at Seoul National University.
During his 2014 visit to Korea, Xi gave a lecture at Seoul National University on these themes and donated more than 10,000 volumes of China-related books the following year. This led to the creation of the Xi Jinping Collection Room inside the central library at Seoul National University, but in recent days voices in political circles have called for its closure.
In addition, Xinhua said in a special feature on the 27th that the political and business communities in Korea are looking forward to Xi's visit. Lawmaker Yun Hu-deok of the Democratic Party of Korea said, "With this visit (by Xi), we hope to build greater consensus between the two countries' leaders and to promote more active exchanges and cooperation in areas such as the economy, trade, and culture."