(News Focus) S. Korea gives head-of-state level welcome to China's likely next leader

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- China's vice president and presumed next leader Xi
Jinping has received the hospitality usually extended to heads of state by South
Korea and Japan on his regional tour in a sign of the growing clout Beijing
wields regionally.
For Xi, currently No. 6 in China's power hierarchy, but expected to take over
when President Hu Jintao steps down in 2012, his ongoing tour functions as a
timely platform to raise his international profile, experts here noted.
Xi, 56, has held talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Prime
Minister Chung Un-chan and covered a comprehensive set of meetings with
high-level economic officials and politicians since arriving Wednesday for a
three-day stay. A wide range of serious topics were raised -- from the North
Korean nuclear issue, to free trade, bilateral cooperation for trade fairs and
climate change -- but experts note the importance of his visit is more symbolic
than substantial.
"For Xi, this visit is not to discuss technical matters but as the next leader,
it is intended to enhance his international profile and build his diplomatic
experience," Lee Nam-ju, a Chinese studies professor at SungKongHoe University in
Seoul, said.
The consensus President Lee and Xi reached in their 75-minute meeting over North
Korea's denuclearization or the need to pursue free trade made virtually no new
development from their positions earlier. The two leaders also allotted a
considerable amount of time in their meeting to the less sensitive topic of the
environment and fight against global warming.
Regardless of the scanty substance, Xi's visit holds great importance to South
Korea's future relationship with the giant neighbor, as he is likely the one to
spearhead China's economic rise to the 2020s, professor Lee argued. The
appointment of Yu Woo-ik, one of President Lee's right-hand men, as the new
ambassador to China earlier this month demonstrated the growing importance Seoul
attaches to Beijing.
"Xi will become the Chinese top leader from the year 2012 to 2022, a period that
will see China rise as the world's ultra superpower. If Korea can give good
impression and earn trust before the Chinese rise, it would give a significant
boost to the Korea-China relationship," professor Lee said.
According to another expert, China's rapid growth, which earned it the title of a
"G2" that puts it along with the United States in terms of global influence, has
kept Seoul officials watchful over how to balance South Korea's diplomacy between
the new and old superpowers. China may have been discomforted by Korea's recent
statements to underline its traditional alliance with the U.S., such as its
decision to redeploy troops to Afghanistan following a request by the Barack
Obama administration and an agreement with Washington to turn their alliance into
a "comprehensive, strategic relationship," said Park Wolla, a China analyst at
Sejong Institute, a non-governmental think tank.
"Korean policymakers do know well that they should not be one-sided toward the
U.S.," Park said. "It's not a matter of choice between the two. It's important
for Korea to make its position clear, whether it's the economy, security issues
or climate change. Otherwise, it would be wavering issue by issue and may end up
losing confidence from both the U.S. and China."
Paul Samuelson, a U.S. Nobel laureate in economics who died on Sunday, had
recently advised Korea to find a golden mean between the two superpowers.
"In the next twenty years post-Mao China will finally outstrip America in total
real GDP growth and levels," Samuelson said in a contribution to the December
issue of the YBM English magazine in Seoul.
South Korea should "stay cooperative but not servile with the U.S.-China global
cooperation efforts," he said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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