Chinese authorities are considering the possibility of organizing a state visit to Seoul for President Xi Jinping for the first half of next year, a South Korean foreign ministry official said on Thursday, a day after the foreign minister held talks with his Chinese counterpart
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2019) Chinese authorities are considering the possibility of organizing a state visit to Seoul for President Xi Jinping for the first half of next year, a South Korean foreign ministry official said on Thursday, a day after the foreign minister held talks with his Chinese counterpart.
The Chinese leader visited the South Korean capital in 2014. Seoul has been trying to organize Xi's trip since 2017.
"In response to our invitation for President Xi Jinping to pay a state visit to South Korea and to our hope for that to happen at an early date, the Chinese side told us that they are seriously considering President Xi paying a state visit in the first half of next year," the official was quoted as saying by South Korea's Yonhap news Agency.
The official added that the two countries were also negotiating the possibility of a meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Xi in China's Chengdu on the sidelines of a trilateral leaders' summit, which will incorporate Japan, in late December.
Bilateral relations between the two countries, especially in the defense sector, deteriorated when South Korea agreed to host THAAD, an advanced US missile defense system, in 2015. Beijing has repeatedly stressed that the system posed a threat to its security interests in the region. A thaw began in November when the defense ministers of both countries met for talks in Bangkok and agreed to improve strategic communications.
