On April 18, 2018, at the invitation of Han Fangming, Deputy Director of Foreign Affairs Committee of the CPPCC and President of the Charhar institute, former Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea Mr. Kim Jinpyo, current South Korean congressmen Song Ki Hun, Eoh Kiyku, Park Gwangon, Piao Ding and Hong Yi Shao, university presidents, entrepreneurs, and experts and scholars from relevant departments of Korea visited Shanghai Academy. Both sides held the China-South Korea "Belt and Road" Cooperation Shanghai Seminar to exchange ideas on such topics as the "Belt and Road" cooperation mechanism and China-South Korea economic cooperation.

Zhao Kebin, Executive Vice President of Shanghai  Academy, Park Seon Won, Consul-General of Republic  of Korea in China , and Han Fangming, President of the Charhar institute, addressed the event respectively, and Mr. Kim Jinpyo, former Vice President of South Korea, delivered a keynote speech.

Zhao Kebin introduced the basic information of Shanghai  Academy in his speech. He mainly focused on the four objectives of Shanghai Academy, and expressed hope that the experts and scholars present here would communicate with each other freely, so as to promote cooperation between the two countries. Park Seon Won said the “New South Policy” and “New North Policy” proposed by the Moon Jae-in government have many common grounds with the “Belt and Road” Initiative proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping, and hoped that South Korea could actively participate in China’s “Belt and Road” strategy and interconnect with China. According to Han Fangming, the “Belt and Road” Initiative and the human community of shared destiny advocated by the Chinese government aim to build a community of shared interest, shared destiny and shared responsibility with mutual political trust, economic integration and cultural inclusiveness. China and South Korea must enhance mutual trust, and consolidate the foundation for common development.

In his keynote speech, Kim Jinpyo reviewed the political and economic background for the proposal of China ’s “Belt and Road” initiative, and mentioned the "new normal" of China 's economic development and the US ’ “Asia-Pacific Rebalance Strategy” and “Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement”. When it came to the achievements of the “Belt and Road” strategy, he pointed out that the western section of the “Belt and Road” has made many achievements, but the eastern section has witnessed a slow advance affected by various factors, and thus greater effort must be exerted for an accelerated progress and bigger achievements. The South Korean Government is also pushing the effective connection between the "New North Policy" and "New South Policy" and the "Belt and Road" strategy. He also pointed out that as the Yellow Sea Rim   Economic Circle has taken shape, and the energy delivery route in the East China Sea region of the Korean Peninsula has also built up, a new economic cooperation area would be built to link with the "Belt and Road".

At the seminar, congressmen and experts conducted in-depth discussions on China-South Korea economic cooperation, the "Belt and Road" strategy and the peninsula issue.

South Korean congressman Hong Yishao pointed out that South Korea would strengthen trades with Central and Eastern Europe by relying on China 's "Belt and Road" policy, and make more investments in Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He said China-South Korea cooperation must not confine to the political field, and active cooperation in the fields of economy, non-government and multilateral security must be made. According to Yang Huijun, Director of the Secretariat of Shanghai Academy, China has been committed to promoting the peaceful development of the peninsula, and China and South Korea share many common grounds in terms of diplomatic and economic policies. South Korean congressman Piao Ding pointed out the distinctions between the "New North Policy" and the previous North Policy, put forward the connection scheme between the “Belt and Road” and the "New North Policy", and hoped to build the Northeast Asia responsibility community through the new economic map. Li Chunguang, Deputy Director of the Cooperation Division of Shanghai Academy, expressed that South Korea is a country developed earlier than China and may play a very important role to China during the construction of the “Belt and Road” in terms of economic cooperation, foreign economic aid and volunteer service; he expected opportunities for exchanges and cooperation in these aspects in the future. Piao Xiang Zhe, Deputy President of Kyonggi University, expressed his own opinions on the changes in the peninsula situations, the strengthening of the East Asia Economic Rim, the settlement of the North Korea nuclear issue and the conditions for accomplishing the "Belt and Road". Yu Zhirong, Senior Research Fellow of the Chahar Institute and Professor of Zhejiang Ocean University, South Korea boasts obvious advantages in terms of port construction, maritime transport, shipbuilding, marine logistics and long range fishing, and China and South Korea have a broad cooperation prospect in the field of ocean. Professor Jin Zhen Hao of Dankook University expounded the origin of building China-South Korea human community of shared destiny from the perspective of history, and pointed out the importance of cultural ties.

Zhang Guobin, Secretary-General of the Chahar Institute, hoped to build a platform for realizing peace and development on the peninsula. Hwang Deuk Kyu, President of Samsung China, stated the thinking and direction of Samsung and other enterprises in pushing the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries from the prospective of enterprises. Liu Yang, research fellow of the Chahar Institute and deputy editor-in-chief of Huanqiu.com, pointed out the roles of Huanqiu.com and other main media in promoting cooperation and exchanges between China and South Korea from the prospective of media.

In the Q&A part, journalists, overseas students and postgraduate students of Shanghai Academy conducted full interactions and exchanges with the experts and scholars on the topics relating to the “Belt and Road”.

Research fellows of Shanghai  Academy, the Charhar Institute, Shanghai  University and other relevant institutions participate in the discussions.

(By Gong Xiaojing, Xiang Jinmei)