By Diplomacy Journal Kayla Lee

Seoul City Mayor Oh Se-hoon met with Xin Changxing, Party Secretary of Jiangsu Province of China, at the main building of Seoul City Hall to discuss friendly exchanges and cooperation between Seoul and Jiangsu Province on June 20.
 

Elected in January 2023, Xin Changxing is a member of the 20th CPC Central Committee, the highest leadership body of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), with voting rights in the 205-member CPC Central Committee, and the number one person in Jiangsu Province.

The meeting was organized to discuss ways to revitalize friendly exchanges between the two cities, which have been curtailed by the pandemic, following the visit of Shi Xiaolin in October last year.

Jiangsu Province is home to many of South Korea's major manufacturing companies, including Samsung Electronics (Suzhou), SK Hynix (Wuxi), Kia Motors (Yancheng), and LG Electronics (Nanjing), and has been engaged in mutual exchanges with Seoul since July 2008, when they signed a friendship city agreement. Mayor Oh also visited Jiangsu Province as part of the friendship agreement and visited the Zhongshan Mausoleum and the Mausoleum of the Rich in Nanjing.

During the meeting, Mayor Oh shared his impressions of Jiangsu Province from his visit in 2008, saying, "I hope that today's visit will serve as an opportunity to deepen the ties between Seoul, Jiangsu Province, and China."

Borrowing the phrase 'Korea and China are inseparable partners' mentioned during the last Korea-China summit to express the importance of the two countries, Xin suggested that Seoul and Jiangsu should continue to promote high-level people-to-people exchanges between the two cities, expand economic and trade exchanges, and expand exchanges in various fields such as science and technology, education and culture, and sports. In particular, he emphasized the need to promote exchanges among the youth, the future generation.

Xin, who visited Seoul City Hall for the first time, also expressed his positive impression of the building, which is low-carbon and eco-friendly.

Mayor Oh also introduced Seoul Smart Life Week, which will comprehensively showcase Seoul's lifestyle in October, and the 10th World Congress of the Alliance of Healthy Cities, which will be held in the second half of the year, and asked for the Jiangsu delegation's continued interest and participation in the program, and looked forward to the cooperative role of Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming in the future exchanges between the two cities.

In response, Ambassador Xing Haiming expressed his willingness to serve as a bridge for friendly exchanges between Jiangsu and Seoul.

Mayor Oh also invited the delegation from Jiangsu, including Party General Secretary Xin, to visit Seoul's Seoul Plaza, which was voted the best policy by Seoulites last year, and to take a tour of the events scheduled for that evening, and introduced Wrist Doctor 9988, which recently surpassed 1 million participants, as an example of a successful health policy.