China and South Korea agreed yesterday to work more closely on
the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue, following the nuclear test by
North Korea on Monday.
"China and South Korea share common interests and common
understanding in maintaining peace and stability in Northeast
Asia," Premier Wen Jiabao told visiting South Korean President
Roh Moo-hyun.
As the region now faces "a very difficult situation," China and
South Korea should work more closely to defuse the crisis, Wen
said.
"It is still possible to resolve the Korean Peninsular nuclear
issue through diplomatic means," Wen said. "The international
community should not lose confidence."
He called for continued dialogue and consultation so as to avoid
deterioration of the situation.
Echoing Wen's remarks, Roh said the parties concerned should
work for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
"South Korea and China should step up communication and
coordination to resume the six-party talks," Roh said.
The six-party talks on Korean nuclear issue remained stalled
since the last round of meeting was held in Beijing last
November.
The last round of talks, involving China, the US, Russia, Japan,
South and North Korea, ended up with a Chairman's Statement, in
which the parties concerned agreed to resume the talks as soon as
possible.
Following North Korea's nuclear test, China has been engaged in
a string of diplomatic activities.
The members of the UN Security Council have been discussing a
draft resolution circulated by the US, which tends to take punitive
sanctions against North Korea.
Wen and Roh also exchanged views on starting the free trade area
(FTA) negotiations and on revising the agreement on protecting the
two-way trade.
The trade volume between the two countries hit US$100 billion
last year, according to official statistics.
Wen and Roh discussed how to carry out medium and long-term
trade cooperation, focusing on environmental protection, energy
preservation and high-tech cooperation.
They pledged to promote trade facilitation, expand mutual
investment and bring economic cooperation to a new level.
They also hailed the recent efforts to improve the relations
between China, South Korea and Japan, saying the strong ties are in
the common interests of the three countries.
This is Roh's second visit to China since he took office in
2003. During his one-day working visit, Roh also met with President
Hu Jintao and top legislator Wu Bangguo.
Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress (NPC), said China is ready to work with South
Korea to enhance inter-parliament cooperation.
The establishment of a regular exchange mechanism this year
between the NPC and South Korea's National Assembly marked a new
stage in inter-parliament relations between the two countries, he
said.
As close neighbors, China and South Korea have a broad range of
common interests, Wu said, adding that it is an unwavering policy
of China to deepen the all-round cooperative partnership between
the two nations.
Roh noted that South Korea and China held similar views on a
number of key international or regional issues and bilateral
cooperation was deepening.
The South Korean government will continue to support the
cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries, as it is
a very important part of the overall bilateral relations, said
Roh.
(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2006)