In the first call, the Chinese president requests its South Korean counterpart to support free trade

Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first phone call after newly elected South Korean President Lee J. Mong, during which he asked to protect cooperation to protect pluralism and free trade. According to the New China News Agency (Xinhua) and China Central TV, XI made these statements during the phone call with Lee. Lee previously said he would have a telephone conversation with SHI on Tuesday. “We need to improve bilateral cooperation and multilateral coordination, we protect pluralism and free trade and guarantee the stability and smoothness of supply and operating chains at the world and regional level,” Xi said according to Central China TV. It has been reported that Xi said that China and South Korea should increase their strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level and pump “more certainty” into the regional and international scenes. The New -South Korean leader points out a more cautious approach in dealing with competition between the United States and China, which is a shift from the foreign policy pursued by its predecessor Yun Suk Yol, which focused on strengthening the relationship with Washington and the Trip Partite partnership with Japan.