South Korea should neither fear China’s rise nor underestimate its capabilities, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Saturday, urging deeper cooperation between the two countries ahead of a regional summit in China next week.
“During this visit to China, I was reminded that we should neither have an unfounded fear of China’s rise nor underestimate its capabilities and potential,” Cho wrote on X, adding that Seoul should build cooperation benefiting both countries by drawing on the autonomy and creativity of its people and companies.
Cho was speaking after talks and dinner with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday, their first meeting in about three months. The talks lasted around 90 minutes and were followed by dinner, with much of the discussion focused on the Korean Peninsula.
Cho said he had asked China to play a constructive role on peninsula issues, including efforts to bring North Korea back into dialogue, and told reporters that peace and stability on the peninsula serve the common interests of both countries. Wang said China’s policy towards the Korean Peninsula had not changed.
The meeting was a final round of coordination before next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in Shenzhen on 18–19 November, which President Lee Jae Myung will attend. Lee is also scheduled to join a dinner hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and a Lee–Xi summit is planned on the sidelines.
Cho said the two sides had agreed to use the leaders’ meeting to continue the “full restoration” of relations, a process he said had been under way since the Korea–China summit at last year’s APEC meeting in Gyeongju and Lee’s visit to China in January.
The Shenzhen summit is expected to draw several major world leaders. The White House has said US President Donald Trump will meet Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday on the sidelines of APEC, with nuclear arms reductions among the issues on the agenda.
Cho also said he saw little chance that China, as this year’s APEC host, would invite North Korea to the gathering, but that Beijing appeared willing to mediate talks between Washington and Pyongyang. A foreign ministry official in Beijing said a US–North Korea summit at APEC remained possible, though the chances were “not high”.
Lee’s administration has sought to improve relations with China, South Korea’s largest trading partner, after ties were strained under former president Yoon Suk Yeol, while maintaining Seoul’s security alliance with the United States. Wang said China wanted to expand cooperation in traditional industries and emerging sectors including artificial intelligence and biomedicine, and that bilateral ties had returned to the right track after exchanges between the two countries’ leaders.
Sources: Reuters — “South Korea should not fear China’s rise, foreign minister says” (https://www.reuters.com/world/china/south-korea-should-not-fear-chinas-rise-foreign-minister-says-2026-11-14/); Korea JoongAng Daily — “Korea, China agree to continue restoring ties at Lee–Xi summit in Shenzhen” (https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/korea-china-agree-to-continue-restoring-ties-at-leexi-summit-in-shenzhen/12972945); Seoul Economic Daily — “Korea, China Foreign Ministers Meet Ahead of Shenzhen Summit” (https://en.sedaily.com/world/2026/11/13/korea-china-foreign-ministers-meet-ahead-of-shenzhen-summit).
