The high frequency of mutual visits by Chinese and South Korean leaders has offered a glimpse into the increasingly warm relations between the two East Asian neighbors amid their burgeoning trade ties.
The latest sign of Beijing and Seoul's intimacy came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang started his first official visit to South Korea on Saturday, two months after South Korean President Park Geun-hye attended the massive military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II (WWII) in Beijing, her third China trip since assuming office in early 2013.
The intensified Beijing-Seoul relations have been reflected by statistics. Over the past two years, Li has met with Park four times while Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South Korean counterpart have met on at least six occasions. The routinized summits between Xi and Park were held on both multilateral and bilateral occasions, including the presidents' exchange of state visits, the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands, the APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum) meetings in Bali and Beijing, and Beijing's military parade.
In 2014, Xi visited South Korea in a single-country overseas trip, which observers described as "quite rare" in China's diplomatic arrangement, reflecting Seoul's important role in Beijing's relations with its neighboring countries.
The short yet fruitful trip, which saw a host of agreements ranging from the launch of the Chinese yuan (or RMB) clearance in Seoul and political and security cooperation to expanded people-to-people exchanges, was described by media in China's diplomatic vocabulary as "dropping round among family relatives."
In both countries, where ethical values and social orders were historically based on Confucianism, the harmonious coexistence of neighbors and family members is highly valued.
The Chinese people believe that "the more frequent relatives visit each other, the closer they will become." Another case in point was the visit by China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang in June, when the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) was taking its toll in South Korea.
Zhang's visit was lauded by South Korean officials, saying it helped the country ease MERS anxieties. Ma Zhengang, deputy president of the China Public Diplomacy Association, said that such frequent exchange of high-level official visits is critical for China and South Korea to deepen mutual political trust and their congenial relationship has been developed on the basis of an increasing number of agreements on bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, culture and people-to-people areas.
"A slew of regional multilateral economic, political, and security issues have compelled China and South Korea to maintain frequent communication and cooperation," he said.
The two countries have common interests on and similar outlooks for a number of regional issues, such as peace and stability of the Northeast Asia, regional denuclearization, and historical issues in relation to Japanese colonialism and aggression.
Analysts say that China-South Korea relations, described as featuring "warming politics, hot economy," are at the best in history since the two nations established diplomatic ties 23 years ago.
The desirable Beijing-Seoul relations have also been evidenced by the two countries' newly inked free trade agreement (FTA) after a three-year negotiation process and Seoul's recent decision to join the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
China's foreign ministry has said that Premier Li's South Korea visit is expected to enhance bilateral practical cooperation, consolidate mutual trust, as well as extend the sound development momentum of China-South Korea strategic partnership for common development, regional peace, Asia's renewal and the world prosperity.
China is South Korea's largest trading partner and source of import while South Korea is China's third most important trading partner. "Above all, economic and trade cooperation is the most eye-catching and strong part in bilateral relations between China and South Korea," said Ruan Zongze, deputy head of the China Institute of International Studies.
Li's current visit will help implement the FTA between the two nations and boost their cooperation in innovation, production capacity and the third-party market, he added.
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