Korea-China: "Considering Dense Bilateral Supply Chains, We Will Prevent Potential Disruption Factors"

Vice Minister-level Economic Joint Committee Holds First In-person Meeting in 3 Years
Director-level Meeting to be Held Within the Year to Review Follow-up Measures

The 'Korea-China Economic Joint Committee' was held on the 29th in Beijing, China, with Oh Young-joo, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Li Pei, Vice Minister of Commerce of China, attending as chief representatives. This was the first face-to-face meeting in three years; in 2021 and 2022, the meetings were held via video conference due to COVID-19.

At this meeting, the stability and cooperation of supply chains between the two countries were discussed as core agenda items. Both sides agreed on the necessity of preventing potential disruption factors, considering the tightly interconnected supply chains. They decided to hold a comprehensive Korea-China economic cooperation review meeting (at the director-general level) within the year to check on follow-up measures.

Vice Minister Oh stated that it is important to create momentum for expanding trade and investment between Korea and China, and expressed hope that follow-up negotiations on services and investment under the Korea-China FTA would progress. He also mentioned the need to restore cultural content exchanges such as games, movies, and broadcasting to deepen friendly sentiments between the peoples of the two countries, which is an important foundation for the development of Korea-China relations.

Vice Minister Oh requested cooperation from the Chinese side, saying, "Under the unstable external economic environment, please allow our companies to conduct economic activities stably in China and expand their investments." He also requested China's support for Korea's bid to host the 2030 Busan World Expo.

Vice Minister Li agreed on the necessity to deepen Korea-China economic cooperation and mentioned the need to expand cooperation into new areas including the digital economy and green development. He also asked for attention to strengthen Korea-China local economic cooperation, such as revitalizing industrial complexes in both countries. He emphasized working together to deepen regional and multilateral cooperation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.