FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press aboard Air Force One en route to the U.S. following his official visit with President Xi Jinping in China, May 15, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci/File Photo
| Photo Credit: Evan Vucci

Chinese President Xi Jinping will host South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on a state visit starting on Sunday (January 4, 2026), signalling Beijing’s intent to strengthen ties with Seoul amidst strained relations with ‍Japan over Taiwan.

The visit marks the second meeting between Mr. Xi and Mr. Lee in just two months, an unusually short interval that signals China’s ​keen interest in reinforcing ties with Seoul and boosting economic collaboration and tourism, analysts say. Mr. Lee will focus on China’s efforts ​towards ⁠peace in the ​Korean peninsula ⁠presidential adviser Wi Sung-lac ⁠said on ​Friday (January 2, 2026). 

Relations between ‌China and Japan are at their chilliest point in years after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in ​November a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

Mr. Xi’s invitation to Lee for a state visit from Sunday is a calculated move aimed at deepening bilateral relations especially before the South Korean leader visits Japan, analysts say.

“China wants to emphasize South Korea’s importance slightly more than before,” said Kang Jun-young, professor of political economics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

“China appears to have strategically decided that it would be better to have (Lee) visit China before South Korea holds a summit with Japan again,” he added.

The Lee administration has said it aims to “restore” ties with Beijing, ​acknowledging China is South Korea’s largest trading partner.

The pivot follows the two countries’ strained relations under Mr. Lee’s predecessor ⁠Yoon Suk Yeol, due to his closer
alignment with Washington and Tokyo, as well as criticism of China’s handling of Taiwan.

Now, South Korea is trying to maintain balance but leaning towards cooperation with China to avoid being forced into any troubles that would threaten the Asian industrial powerhouse.

Mr. Lee said in ​December he wouldn’t take sides in the diplomatic dispute ⁠between China and Japan.

U.S. alliance and North Korea

Still, China and South Korea face complex issues as China challenges the U.S., South Korea’s major ally in the region, and as nuclear-armed North Korea remains unpredictable.

China is North Korea’s major ally and economic lifeline.

Shin Beom-chul, a former South Korean Vice Defence Minister and a senior research fellow at ‌the Sejong Institute, said Mr. Xi and Mr. Lee might discuss some contentious issues such as efforts to modernise the ‌South Korea- U.S. alliance that apparently aim to curb China’s dominance.

Currently, about 28,500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea to counter any threat from North Korea.

U.S. officials have signalled a plan ‍to make those U.S. forces more flexible to respond to other threats, such as defending Taiwan and checking China’s growing military reach.

“Korea is not simply responding to threats on the peninsula,” General Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said at a forum ‍on Dec. 29. “Korea sits at the crossroads of broader regional dynamics that shape the balance of power across Northeast Asia.” he said.

Mr. Lee’s agenda with Mr. Xi includes persuading China to facilitate dialogue with North Korea, experts said.

North Korea has dismissed Lee’s outreach, labelling him a “hypocrite” and “confrontational maniac”.

Meanwhile, China and North Korea have been seeking closer coordination as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Xi in September at a big military parade.

Tech, supply chains and K-Pop

Mr. Lee’s visit to Beijing is expected to address cooperation in areas including critical minerals, supply chain and green industries, his office said earlier.

Seoul sources nearly half of its supply of rare earth minerals, critical to semiconductor manufacturing, come from China. Beijing also accounts for a third of Seoul’s ⁠annual chip exports, the largest market by far.

Last month, South Korean Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao agreed to work towards stable rare earth supplies, the South Korean Industry Ministry said.

The ​visit may also foster partnerships on artificial intelligence and advanced technologies, experts said.

China’s Huawei Technologies plans to roll out the ⁠Ascend 950 AI chips in South Korea next year, aiming to provide an alternative to Nvidia for Korean firms, Huawei’s South Korea CEO Balian Wang told a press conference last month.

Mr. Wang mentioned ongoing discussions with potential customers, without naming those clients.

Huawei did not address questions from Reuters about Mr. Wang’s comments.

Another issue at stake is Beijing’s effective ban on K-pop content since around the 2017 deployment of a U.S.-led missile defence system in South Korea.

The chief executive ⁠of SM Entertainment, a leading K-pop agency will join Mr. Lee’s business delegation, according to local media.

Published – January 02, 2026 08:21 am IST

Chinese President Xi Jinping, cneter, visits the Gu Wenchang memorial hall in Dongshan County in the city of Zhangzhou during an inspection tour in southeastern China’s Fujian province. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping has inspected a brigade of the military’s strategic missile force that underwent a massive purge of officials for corruption in recent years, according to a media report on Saturday (October 19, 2024).

Prez Xi on Thursday (October 17, 2024) visited at Hefei the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Rocket Force, a key arm of the military operating the missiles, including nuclear weapons, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He urged the strategic missile troops to strengthen their deterrence and combat capabilities and resolutely fulfil the tasks entrusted by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the people.

The Rocket Force, established in 2015 as part of Prez Xi’s military overhaul, has been at the centre of the latest anti-corruption campaign targeting the military.

Besides heading the ruling CPC and the Presidency, 71-year-old Prez Xi also heads the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the Chinese military.

His visit to the Rocket Force, which operates the country’s most powerful long and short-range missiles, was considered significant due to the massive purges seen at the key military arm driven by alleged graft at its top echelons in recent years.

The unspecified allegations against many of its officials included the use of substandard fuel for the missiles.

A host of its officers, including the former Defence Minister Gen Li Shangfu, were summarily sacked for alleged corruption.

Mr. Gen Li headed the Rocket Force before he was elevated to the post of Defence Minister by Xi, who later sacked him.

His successor, Gen Li Yuchao, who assumed the role of its commander in 2022, was also removed following graft charges.

In July this year, the ruling Communist Party announced the anti-corruption investigation against Gen Sun Jinming, who headed the Rocket Force.

At least seven past or serving senior military officials from the PLA’s Rocket Force faced anti-corruption probes since last year.

Former Defence Minister Gen Wei Fenghe, who headed the Rocket Force from its inception until 2017 and later served as the country’s defence minister from 2018 to 2023, was also expelled from the party recently over corruption charges.

Last month, the Rocket Force was in the news after it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean.

The launch tested weaponry performance and military training effectiveness and achieved desired goals, the Defence Ministry said.

The missile fell into expected sea areas, it said, adding that this was a routine arrangement in the annual training plan and relevant countries had been notified in advance.

It is the first time in 44 years that China is known to have successfully conducted an atmospheric test of an ICBM over the high seas. In May 1980, a DF-5 –- China’s first ICBM –- flew more than 9,000 km.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said on June 26 that China had carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” near the island, as Beijing said it would track down and punish “diehard” independence supporters wherever they are.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has made no secret of its dislike of President Lai Ching-te, whom it views as a “separatist”, and staged two days of war games after he took office last month.

Last week, China threatened to execute “diehard” Taiwan independence separatists in extreme cases, a further ramping up of tensions that drew condemnation from Lai and his government, as well as the United States.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said that starting at 7 a.m. (2300GMT) on June 26, it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft, including J-16 fighters, operating to the north, centre and south of Taiwan, carrying out a “joint combat readiness patrol” with Chinese warships.

Taiwan frequently reports such missions, part of a pattern of what it says is Chinese harassment that has escalated in the past four years. China’s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the government had the legal right to protect the country’s territorial integrity, defending last week’s new guidelines to punish what Beijing views as separatism.

“National law enforcement and judicial organs will pursue all Taiwan independence ‘diehards’ who test the law to the end no matter where they are and severely punish them in accordance with the law,” Zhu Fenglian told reporters.

China warns of Taiwan ‘war’ as military drills encircle island

Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan and it is not clear how China could seek to enforce any judgements outside its borders.

Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed. He rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Ryan Woo; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Gerry Doyle)

China on May 23 encircled Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft in war games aimed at punishing the self-ruled island after its new President vowed to defend democracy.

The two days of drills are part of an escalating campaign of intimidation by China that has seen it carry out a series of large-scale military exercises around Taiwan in recent years.

The latest show of force is a “strong punishment for the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” China’s military said as the drills got underway.

China— governed by the Communist Party since 1949— claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary.

May 23 and May 24 drills involve aircraft and ships surrounding the island to test their combat capabilities, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said.

Taiwan responded by deploying air, ground and sea forces, with the island’s defence ministry vowing to “defend freedom”.

Taiwan’s presidential spokeswoman also condemned China’s “provocative military behaviour”.

The drills come after Lai Ching-te was sworn in as Taiwan’s new President this week and made an inauguration speech that China denounced as a “confession of independence”.

“In the face of the many threats and attempts of infiltration from China, we must demonstrate our resolution to defend our nation,” Mr. Lai said in his speech while hailing a “glorious” era of democracy.

China warned of strong reprisals to Lai’s speech, in which he also vowed to continue building Taiwan’s defence capabilities.

It had previously branded Mr. Lai a “dangerous separatist” who would bring “war and decline” to the island.

Kill independence

The drills, which began at 7:45 a.m. (2345 GMT May 22), are taking place in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of the island, PLA Eastern Theater Command Naval Colonel Li Xi said.

As the “Joint Sword-2024A” drills were launched, commentary on state Chinese broadcaster CCTV declared them “a powerful disciplinary action” against Taiwanese separatism.

China’s military put out a series of posters touting what it called its “cross-strait lethality”. They featured rockets, jets and naval vessels next to blood-stained text.

“The weapon aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ to kill ‘independence’ is already in place,” it declared.

Economic blockade

Beijing, which split with Taipei at the end of a civil war 75 years ago, regards the island as a renegade province with which it must eventually be reunified.

China has stepped up pressure on the democratic island of 23 million people, periodically stoking worries about a potential invasion.

A Chinese military expert told CCTV that the drills were partly aimed at rehearsing an economic blockade of the island.

Zhang Chi, a professor at Beijing’s China National Defense University, said the drills aimed to “strangle” Taiwan’s critical Kaohsiung port to “severely impact” its foreign trade.

They would cut off “Taiwan’s lifeline of energy imports” as well as “block the support lines that some US allies provide to ‘Taiwan independence’ forces”, he added.

The last time China announced similar military exercises around Taiwan was in August last year after Mr. Lai, then vice president, stopped over in the United States on a visit to Paraguay.

Those drills also tested the PLA’s ability “to seize control of air and sea spaces” and fight “in real combat conditions”, according to state media.

They followed April drills that simulated the encirclement of the island, launched after Mr. Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen met then-U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

China also launched major military exercises in 2022 after Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited Taiwan.

World powers are keen to see as much stability as possible between China and Taiwan, not least because of the vital role the island plays in the global economy.

The Taiwan Strait is one of the world’s most important maritime trade arteries, and the island itself is a major tech manufacturer, particularly of vital semiconductors— the tiny chips used in everything from smartphones to missile systems.

The United States switched its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979 but remains the island’s most important ally and supplier of military hardware.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he does not support Taiwan’s independence but also that he would back sending forces to defend the island. The official U.S. position on intervention is one of ambiguity.

The United States did not give an immediate official response to the drills.

U.S. Lieutenant General Stephen Sklenka, speaking in Canberra, described the exercises as “concerning” but not unexpected.

This handout picture taken and released on May 14, 2024 by the Taiwanese coast guard shows a Chinese coast guard ship (background right) seen past a Taiwanese coast guard vessel (foreground) in the waters off Kinmen. “Five Chinese coast guard ships sailed through Taiwan’s “restricted waters” for three hours on May 14 before they were expelled,” Taiwanese coast guard said.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Taipei said on May 15 it had detected 45 Chinese military aircraft around Taiwan, the highest single-day number this year and coming less than a week before the self-ruled island inaugurates its new President who China regards as a “dangerous separatist”.

China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it would never renounce the use of force to bring it under Beijing’s control.

Also read | Preventing a China-Taiwan conflict

It has warned that Lai Ching-te, the current Vice-President who will be sworn into Taiwan’s top post on May 20, would bring “war and decline” to the island, and tensions have soared since he won the January poll.

On Wednesday, Taipei’s Defence Ministry said it had detected 45 Chinese aircraft and six naval vessels operating around Taiwan during the 24-hour period leading up to 6 a.m. (2200 GMT).

“Twenty six of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait,” the Ministry said in a statement, referring to a line bisecting the 180-km (110-mile) waterway that separates Taiwan from China.

The Ministry added that it had “monitored the situation and responded accordingly”. On Tuesday evening, the Ministry said 23 Chinese aircraft — including fighter jets and drones — were detected around Taiwan during a two-hour period.

Beijing has in recent years upped military pressure on Taiwan, maintaining a near-daily presence of warplanes, drones and naval vessels around the island.

The largest ever seen around Taiwan was last September, when Beijing sent in 103 warplanes and aircraft — 40 of which crossed the median line. Experts say these are “grey zone tactics”, which stop short of outright acts of war but serve to exhaust Taipei’s military.

Besides deploying a military show of force, China has also sent in coast guard ships and other official fishery vessels around Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen since February. The most recent sighting was on Tuesday, when five Chinese coast guard ships sailed through Kinmen’s “restricted waters” for three hours before leaving, Taiwan’s coast guard said.

Taiwan, China can resolve differences, says former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou after meeting Xi Jinping

Tuesday’s sighting was the fifth formation seen in May, which the Taiwanese coast guard said “seriously affect navigation safety and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.

“We urge the Chinese side to exercise self-restraint and immediately cease this irrational behaviour,” it said. Mr. Lai, like outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen, rejects Beijing’s claim over Taiwan.

China has condemned him and his deputy Hsiao Bi-khim — who was Taiwan’s former representative to the United States — as an “independence duo”.