(Bloomberg) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping called for accelerating negotiations on a trade deal and boosting cooperation in high-tech manufacturing in a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, the first summit between leaders of the two countries in about three years.

Xi told Yoon that China and South Korea should work together to maintain the global free-trade system and ensure the security of global supply chains, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The meeting took place Tuesday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

The remarks by the Chinese leader come as the US pressures security partners including South Korea, the Netherlands, Taiwan and Japan to comply with sweeping curbs on the sale of advanced chips. Xi, who met US President Joe Biden on Monday night, made a similar appeal during a meeting earlier in the day with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. 

Yoon, a conservative who took office in May, asked Xi to play a role in stemming Kim Jong Un’s missile and nuclear programs. North Korea, which shares borders with both countries, has ratcheted up tensions to levels not seen in years by firing off in recent weeks one of its biggest barrages of missiles under Kim in defiance of United Nations resolutions. South Korea has warned the nation could soon conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.

The South Korean president asked Xi Jinping for a more “active and constructive role” amid the growing provocations from North Korea and to hold regular, high-level talks, Yoon’s office said.

Yoon has raised China’s ire by floating plans to expand a US-made missile shield known as Thaad -- Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. The South Korean leader has pledged to make the current Thaad system fully operational and floated installing another unit in the Seoul area. 

China objects to the shield over concerns its powerful radar would allow spying on its own missile systems. Yoon has said he doesn’t want the missile interceptor system to become “an obstacle to relations” after Beijing has slammed its use.

China is pushing to reaffirm former South Korean President Moon Jae-in administration’s policy of not allowing additional Thaad deployments. The Moon administration, which comes from the progressive camp, made the announcement in 2017 as it aimed to resolve Chinese trade curbs imposed after the first missile-defense system was delivered as part of US-led efforts to counter North Korea’s nuclear expansion. 

North Korea’s recent escalation of tension is underscoring the cost of Washington’s tensions with Beijing, since China has shown little appetite for additional sanctions over the country’s nuclear program. Biden similarly urged Xi to take action to rein in North Korea during their meeting on Monday night, which overall helped stabilize relations between the world’s biggest economies.

The last summit between South Korea and China came in December 2019, when Moon met Xi in Beijing. The two leaders urged a resumption of talks with North Korea on curbing its atomic ambitions.

Yoon needs to walk a tight line when it comes to balancing relations with China, his country’s biggest trading partner, and the US, its long-standing security ally. Making matters even more difficult are moves by Biden to tighten controls on exports of some chips and chipmaking equipment to China, where major South Korean semiconductor makers have facilities.

South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc., one of the world’s biggest memory chip makers, has warned that the Biden administration’s escalating restrictions could force the closure or sale of a major plant in China, an “extreme situation” it hopes to avert.

Yoon sent ripples through relations with Washington when he decided against having a face-to-face meeting with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a trip to Seoul in August. The visit to Taipei angered Beijing, which sees the island as part of its territory. The snub of the first sitting House speaker to visit South Korea in about 20 years drew criticism from members of South Korea’s opposition and Yoon’s own conservative party. 

--With assistance from Yanping Li.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.