Positive signals are being released one after another, and various sectors in South Korea are tightening the economic and trade ties between China and South Korea

[Special correspondent for Global Times in South Korea, Li Zhiyin] South Korean President Lee Jae-myung began his state visit to China on January 4th. Over the past few days, expectations among various sectors in South Korea for strengthening cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, and emerging industries with China have continued to rise. From business delegations visiting China for inspections to the counter-trend rise of related sectors in the capital market, academia, industry, and the capital market have all released positive signals. On the 5th, when attending the China-South Korea Business Forum at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Lee Jae-myung stated that the two countries are currently at a crucial stage of jointly opening up new avenues for cooperation, and it is necessary to use future core technologies such as artificial intelligence as a starting point to promote deeper cooperation in areas such as manufacturing and service industries.

To coordinate with this visit to China, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry led the establishment of an economic delegation comprising approximately 200 enterprises to accompany the delegation. This marks the second time since December 2019 that South Korea has organized a large-scale economic and trade delegation to China, which is of significant symbolic importance. According to South Korean media, the delegation will actively participate in the China-Korea Business Forum, facilitate the signing of multiple memorandums of understanding on cooperation, and engage in one-on-one business negotiations, focusing on core areas such as manufacturing supply chain collaboration, service industry openness, and content industry cooperation.

In an interview with a special correspondent from the Global Times, a South Korean industry insider stated that this move clearly conveys the strong willingness of the South Korean business community to seize the opportunity presented by high-level diplomacy to proactively restart and expand cooperation channels with China, and to deepen pragmatic collaboration. It is an important economic and trade measure taken by South Korea to echo the warming of Sino-South Korean relations.

From the perspectives of policy and research, the report "Analysis of Competitive and Complementary Relations between China and South Korea" issued by the Korea National Policy Research Institute and the Foreign Economic Policy Research Institute provides a structural basis for this expectation of cooperation. The report points out that the relationship between China and South Korea has shifted from a structure dominated by cooperation in the past to a competitive landscape with highly overlapping major export industries and commodities. However, while maintaining a competitive relationship, both sides still maintain a distinct complementary trade structure, especially in industries where both have global competitiveness, where trade exchanges between the two countries are even more active. This dual structure of "coexistence of competition and complementarity" means that the relationship between China and South Korea is not a simple zero-sum game, and it also provides a realistic foundation for both sides to explore more refined division of labor and cooperation models in the new stage.

According to a report by South Korea's Hankook Ilbo on the 2nd, as China continues to lead in cutting-edge industries such as artificial intelligence and robotics, a trend of "learning from China" is gradually emerging within the Korean business community. When formulating future industrial strategies, systematically understanding the current status of China's technological development has become an unavoidable practical issue for Korean enterprises. According to sources from the Korean economic circles, in mid-December last year, the Korea International Trade Association organized senior executives from more than ten member companies to conduct a four-day and three-night industrial inspection trip to Shanghai, Hangzhou, and other places, focusing on understanding the research and development progress and industrial ecology in the fields of artificial intelligence and humanoid robots.

According to the report, the delegation visited several cutting-edge technology enterprises in China and also toured the ultra-large research and development facilities built by Huawei. Several Korean business leaders who participated in the visit reported that "seeing cutting-edge technology firsthand made a significant difference," and they believed that this trip would help their companies re-examine their business layouts. The report pointed out that the once-interrupted exchanges between South Korea and China are gradually resuming, with the government, business community, and academia as the main players. This change is also seen as an important signal of the warming of industrial interactions between China and South Korea.

The response at the securities market level is equally noteworthy. According to Yonhap News Agency, after the announcement of Lee Jae-myung's visit to China on January 2, market expectations for the economic recovery between China and South Korea rose, and sectors in the South Korean stock market that may directly benefit, such as entertainment, gaming, and cosmetics, immediately saw a collective rise. South Korean securities firms predict that this visit to China is expected to promote dialogue and communication in the field of cultural exchanges between China and South Korea, thereby bringing positive impacts to related industries.