Xi Urges South Korea’s Lee to Help Safeguard Free Trade

South Korean flags fly in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. South Korea's Constitutional Court has started reviewing President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment case, while investigators reportedly plan to question him this week over his shock martial law declaration. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg Photo by SeongJoon Cho /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — Chinese President Xi Jinping held his first phone conversation with South Korea’s newly elected President Lee Jae-myung and called for cooperation to safeguard multilateralism and free trade. 

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Xi made the remarks in a phone call with Lee on Tuesday, state-run Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television reported, days after the new president took office. 

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“We should strengthen bilateral cooperation and multilateral coordination, jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade, and ensure the stability and smoothness of global and regional industrial chains and supply chains,” Xi said, according to the CCTV report. 

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Xi said the two countries should promote their strategic partnership to a higher level and “inject more certainty” into the regional and international landscape, the reports said.

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The call comes less than a week after the left-leaning Lee defeated his conservative rival in a contest triggered by the ouster of his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol. Lee has signaled a more cautious stance on taking sides between the US and China. That marks a shift from Yoon, who emphasized closer ties with Washington and a trilateral partnership with Japan.

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While China and the US are back at the negotiation table in London, Xi still appears keen to shore up relations with other nations also facing President Donald Trump’s wave of tariffs. Xi’s comments underscore China’s efforts to project itself as one of the bulwarks of free trade and multilateral cooperation in contrast to US protectionism and bilateral deal-making.

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China is still South Korea’s biggest trading partner and while the US has closed the gap as an export market, Seoul has long needed to tread a careful path between the two rival economies. Still, any efforts by Lee to balance the handling of relations may not be warmly welcomed by the US.

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“A Lee administration would quickly come into conflict with the Trump administration’s emphasis on confronting Beijing’s aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He added that South Korea would face renewed pressure from the US to assume a larger role “against the encroaching Chinese threat.” 

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Highlighting the tricky balancing act facing South Korea’s new leader, a White House official expressed concern over “Chinese interference and influence in democracies” after Lee’s victory, while saying South Korea’s election was free and fair.

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Lee is set to fly to Canada to attend the Group of Seven summit next week. While South Korea is not a G-7 member, Lee was invited to participate, according to his office. The visit could give Lee a chance for his first in-person meeting with Trump following their initial phone call on Friday.

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Lee has said that shielding South Korean exports from Trump’s tariff regime would be his top priority in bilateral discussions.  

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—With assistance from Philip Glamann.

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(Adds background, analyst comment.)

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