What’s new: China’s Vice President Wang Qishan will attend the inauguration ceremony of South Korea’s President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on May 10 at the invitation of the South Korean government, the foreign ministry announced Friday.
A special representative and a close aide of President Xi Jinping, Wang will lead a delegation to Seoul for the event.
China and South Korea are “forever neighbors and important partners of cooperation,” foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during the Friday press conference, adding that the visit will enhance the development of bilateral relations.
The background: In a phone call on March 25, President Xi congratulated Yoon on his election.
Xi said in the phone conversation that China attaches high importance to its relations with the Republic of Korea (ROK). “With the joint efforts of both sides, China-ROK relations have grown rapidly in all areas and the two countries have become strategic cooperative partners,” he said.
Yoon expressed the readiness of South Korea to take relations to a new height by stepping up high-level exchanges with China, enhancing mutual trust and promoting people-to-people friendship, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Contact reporter Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com) and editor Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)
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