Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Seoul, capital of the Republic of Korea (ROK), on Monday for a two-day state visit aimed at furthering bilateral ties.

This is President Hu's second state visit to the ROK in nearly three years. His first state visit to the country took place in November 2005.

In Seoul, Hu is expected to have talks with his ROK counterpart Lee Myung-bak and meet other ROK leaders.

Both countries are expected to sign a number of cooperation deals on energy savings, high-tech, economy and trade, education and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, according to Chinese foreign ministry officials.

Hu's visit comes at a time when the China-ROK relations are enjoying sound development. President Lee visited China in May this year.

Lee attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on Aug. 8 and met the Chinese president on Aug. 9 in Beijing.

Cooperative relations between China and the ROK have undergone steady development since the two countries established diplomatic ties 16 years ago.

The two countries have maintained frequent exchanges of high-level visits and bilateral trade has witnessed fast expansion. China has become the ROK's biggest trading partner with their two-way trade volume totaling 159 billion U.S. dollars last year.

In the first six months of this year, bilateral trade volume increased by 25.7 percent over the same period of 2007.

"We expect this state visit (by President Hu) to define the direction of future exchanges and cooperation between China and the ROK, and further advance bilateral ties," a senior Chinese foreign ministry official said on Aug. 20.

Seoul is the first leg of Hu's three-nation tour, which will also take him to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. In the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, he will attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2008)