Chinese Pres. Xi Jinping attends the most summits

Among the leaders of the four nations surrounding Korea, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has attended the most summits.

Despite the cozy relations between China and Russia, it was surveyed that they are currently in intense under-the-table competition to get the position of the leader in the region. On the other hand, the U.S. has attended fewer summits, revealing its status as a global leader that is losing its luster. The average summits by Korean and Japanese leaders were fewer than those of the U.S.

This was confirmed in results of analysis of summit data of Korea and the surrounding four nations by the Dong-A Ilbo in collaboration with the social media analysis company Treum. This data was submitted to the Saenuri lawmaker Won Yu-cheol by the Foreign Ministry. According to the analysis results, Presidents Park Geun-hye, Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Shinzo Abe attended a total of 510 summits after taking office until October 17 this year.

Xi has held a total of 147 summits during the 580 days. This translates to meeting foreign leaders every 3.9 days. He also held the most summits in other countries at 54 times.

A look at the number of summits alone shows that Putin is dominant as he has been in office for longer than the others. He has held a total of 174 summits, 36 times abroad, and 138 times at home.

Obama has held 81 summits, and met foreign leaders every 7.8 days, while Abe has held 59 summits, every 11.2 days, and Park has had at 49 summits, or once every 12.2 days.