China, South Korea reaffirm bilateral strategic cooperative partnership

BUSAN, South Korea - China and South Korea on Sunday reaffirmed their strategic cooperative partnership and expressed willingness to continue to move forward in this direction.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, met with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on the sidelines of the trilateral foreign ministers' meeting between China, Japan and South Korea in Busan, South Korea.

Wang said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties more than 30 years ago, China and South Korea have seen comprehensive and rapid development in their relations with mutual achievements and common prosperity, bringing huge benefits to the two peoples and contributing to regional peace and stability.

In recent years, profound changes have taken place in the international and regional landscapes, and China-South Korea relations have also faced new situations, he said.

However, China and South Korea being neighbors is a fact that will never change, Wang said, noting that both sides benefiting from their good relations and suffering otherwise is also common sense that will never change.

The development of bilateral relations should always keep to the general direction of friendly cooperation, Wang said, adding this represents a question both sides must answer well, which is compulsory and not optional.

Wang said that China is ready to work with South Korea to strengthen exchanges and communication, stick to the original aspiration of establishing diplomatic ties, maintain mutual respect and trust, exclude external interference, and reaffirm and constantly enrich the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership.

China and South Korea have become cooperative partners with highly integrated interests as well as highly embedded production and supply chains, said Wang.

With a complete industrial system and a huge market, China will open up at a higher level, which will continue to provide new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation with South Korea, he added.

The two sides should jointly resist the tendency of politicization of economic issues, instrumentalization of scientific and technological issues and pan-securitization of economic and trade issues, maintain stable and smooth production and supply chains, and push for greater development of economic and trade cooperation between them, Wang said.

For his part, Park congratulated China on successfully hosting the Asian Games in Hangzhou, adding that the South Korean government attaches great importance to relations with China, and believes that the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership is in line with the interests of the two countries and their peoples and is willing to continue to move forward, which is South Korea's clear position.

South Korea stands ready to strengthen dialogue and communication with China at various levels, deepen economic and trade cooperation, maintain the stability of the supply chain, promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges and push for new progress in the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership, Park said.

While strengthening bilateral cooperation, South Korea and China can also work together for peace and stability in East Asia and the world at large, he said.

Noting that the trilateral foreign ministers' meeting between South Korea, China and Japan resumes after a hiatus of more than four years, Park said he expected the meeting to achieve positive results and deepen trilateral cooperation.

Wang said that China supports South Korea in hosting the trilateral foreign ministers' meeting and is willing to work with South Korea and Japan to push for a new start in trilateral cooperation.

The two sides exchanged views on the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Wang emphasized that China has always been a stabilizing force in Northeast Asia and has always played and will continue to play a constructive role in easing the situation on the peninsula.