Various sectors in South Korea tighten the economic and trade ties between China and South Korea

South Korean President Lee Jae myung began his state visit to China on January 4th, and in recent days, the expectations of various sectors in South Korea for strengthening cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, and emerging industries in China South Korea relations have continued to rise. From the visit of business groups to China for inspection, it has been observed that relevant sectors of the capital market have risen against the trend, and positive signals have been released from academia, industry, and the capital market. On the 5th, Li Zaiming attended the China South Korea Business Forum at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse and stated that the two countries are currently at a critical stage of jointly opening up new cooperation channels. It is necessary to use future core technologies such as artificial intelligence as a starting point to promote deeper cooperation in manufacturing, service and other fields.

In order to cooperate with this visit to China, the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry has led the formation of an economic delegation covering about 200 enterprises. This is the second large-scale economic and trade delegation organized by South Korea to China since December 2019, which has significant symbolic significance. According to South Korean media, the delegation will actively participate in the China Korea Business Forum, promote the signing of multiple cooperation memorandums of understanding, and conduct one-on-one business negotiations, with a focus on core areas such as manufacturing supply chain collaboration, service industry openness, and content industry cooperation.

In an interview with a special correspondent from Global Times, a South Korean industry insider stated that this move clearly conveys the strong willingness of the South Korean business community to take advantage of high-level diplomacy to actively restart and expand cooperation channels with China, and deepen practical cooperation. It is an important economic and trade measure taken by the South Korean side to respond to the warming of China South Korea relations.

From a policy and research perspective, the report "Analysis of Competition and Complementary Relations between China and South Korea" released by the South Korean 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 pattern with highly overlapping main export industries and commodities. However, while maintaining a competitive relationship, the two sides still maintain a clear complementary trade structure, especially in industries where both sides have global competitiveness, and trade exchanges between the two countries are more active. This dual structure of "competition and complementarity coexisting" means that China and South Korea are not simply zero sum relations, and also provides a practical basis for both sides to explore more refined division of labor and cooperation models in the new stage.

According to the Korean Ethnic Daily 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 forming within the Korean business community. When formulating future industrial strategies, systematically understanding the current status of China's technological development has become an unavoidable issue for Korean companies. According to the South Korean economic community, in mid December last year, the Korea Trade Association organized more than ten executives from member companies to conduct a four-day and three night industry inspection in Shanghai, Hangzhou and other places, focusing on understanding the research and development progress and industrial ecology in fields such as artificial intelligence and humanoid robots.

According to the report, the inspection team visited several cutting-edge technology companies in China and visited the super large research and development facilities built by Huawei. Several Korean business leaders who participated in the inspection provided feedback that they felt significantly different after seeing cutting-edge technology firsthand, and believed that this trip would help companies re-examine their business layout. The report pointed out that the previously interrupted exchanges between South Korea and China are gradually recovering, with the government, business, and academia as the main players. This change is also seen as an important signal of the recovery of industrial interaction between China and South Korea.

The reaction at the securities market level is also noteworthy. According to a report by Yonhap News Agency, after the announcement of Lee Jae myung's visit to China on January 2, market expectations for the recovery of the Chinese and South Korean economies have increased. The entertainment, gaming, cosmetics and other sectors that may directly benefit from the South Korean stock market 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 exchange between China and South Korea, thereby bringing positive impacts to related industries.