Lee calls for closer partnership between S. Korean, Chinese startups

▲ President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a Korea-China Venture Startup Summit held in Shanghai on Jan. 7, 2026. (Yonhap)

▲ President Lee Jae Myung shakes hands with a humanoid robot made by a Chinese company during a Korea-China Venture Startup Summit held in Shanghai on Jan. 7, 2026. (Yonhap)

Lee-China-startups

Lee calls for closer partnership between S. Korean, Chinese startups

By Kim Eun-jung

SHANGHAI, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung said Wednesday startups in South Korea and China should step up cooperation in areas where they can create synergies to drive innovation and foster new growth drivers.

Lee made the remarks at the Korea-China Venture Startup Summit in Shanghai, which brought together about 400 executives from startups, venture capital firms and government officials from the two countries.

"Past cooperation took the form of combining the Republic of Korea's capital and technology with China's land and labor, but China has reached and even surpassed Korea in terms of accumulated capital and technological capacity," he said. "The two countries now need to forge a new level of economic cooperation."

He suggested that Seoul and Beijing compete where necessary and cooperate where possible in what he framed as a "competitive yet cooperative" partnership to deepen economic ties.

Lee said his visit to China is aimed at putting the bilateral relations back on a "normal track" and charting a "future-oriented partnership."

"If Korea's venture startup ecosystem is organically connected with China's vast startup environment, the two countries will be able to discover larger and more powerful growth engines," he said.

He also vowed to expand support to create a business environment in which young entrepreneurs can take on challenges without fear of failure.

"The government should share the risks of starting up new businesses so that failure is not a setback but an asset for future success," he said.

In Beijing, he attended a business forum involving top executives of major companies of South Korea and China to boost economic cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence and cultural content.

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