New Chinese pres. has much to do with S. Korea

China launched its new leadership Thursday, a major development in the world’s second-largest economy and one of two global superpowers. Xi Jinping has emerged as the top man in Beijing by assuming the key posts of general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the chairmanship of the party’s powerful Central Military Commission. Xi has grown powerful with control over both the party and the military. In his first message as leader, he criticized senior party officials who committed corruption, gap with the Chinese people, formality and bureaucracy. He also warned that the party should remain alert. Global attention is on which direction he will implement foreign policy while focusing on handling domestic issues.

More than 20 years after establishing formal diplomatic ties, South Korea and China have a strong relationship hard to describe in diplomatic terms such as “strategic partnership.” Bilateral trade volume exceeds 220 billion U.S. dollars, and more than six million people from the two nations have visited the other country. Having visited South Korea twice, Xi is said to have a deeper understanding of the country than his predecessors. The beginning of the Xi era can be the starting point of a new cooperative era between the two neighbors.

China’s fifth-generation leadership has a goal of doubling GDP and per-capita income by 2021, the centennial anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party, to establish a relatively well-off society. Though China must maintain average economic growth of 7.5 percent to achieve the goal, it faces issues such as extreme income disparity and a monopoly by state-run companies. Another factor that could potentially hinder Chinese growth is the expected fall in the working age population, or those between the ages 15 of 64, around 2016. Increased economic cooperation with South Korea can help China expand its domestic market and maintain growth. South Korea is one of a few countries that can make direct investments in China and provide social and economic developmental assistance.

China’s policy toward the Korean Peninsula should also evolve to ensure a win-win relationship. In 2010, Xi called the Korean War a “just war” and China`s intervention on North Korea`s side as a “blood alliance.” North Korea was the first country he visited after taking over as vice president in March 2008, when Pyongyang was adding a diplomatic and economic burden to Beijing by refusing to reform and open itself and by continuing nuclear and ballistic missile development. The new Chinese leader should advise his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un to understand the world. If China continues to coddle the North’s dictatorship due to a Cold War way of thinking, this is no good for stability and peace in Northeast Asia.