BEIJING: China and South Korea are neighbors that cannot be moved away, and deepening good-neighborly ties is the right choice for both countries, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun during talks in Beijing on Friday, calling for closer cooperation in a wide range of areas from artificial intelligence (AI) to biomedicine.
During the talks, Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that the successful reciprocal visits by the two heads of state since late last year have put China-South Korea relations back on the right track of improvement.
China has always attached great importance to China-South Korea relations and is ready to work with the South Korean side to further enhance mutual trust, expand cooperation in emerging fields such as AI, biomedicine, green and low-carbon development, and the silver economy on the basis of traditional cooperation, cultivate new engines of economic growth, and continuously expand common interests, Wang said.
For his part, Cho said that since the reciprocal visits by heads of state of the two countries, bilateral ties have recovered and advanced. The sharp rise in trade volume and people-to-people exchanges demonstrates that the important consensus reached by the two leaders has been fully implemented, Cho said, according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The talks came just days before the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting scheduled for next week in Shenzhen. During the talks, Wang said that the South Korean side successfully hosted the APEC meeting last year, and China believes it will also contribute to the APEC meeting in Shenzhen. Cho said that the South Korean side wishes APEC’s “China Year” a success, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Yang Xiyu, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Friday that the Cho’s visit to Beijing continues the momentum of sustained engagement between the two countries. “It will help translate the consensus reached in previous talks into concrete action, while underscoring the continuity and pragmatism of their diplomatic efforts,” Yang said.
Highlighting the growing interactions between the two sides, this marks the second round of talks between the two foreign ministers in about three months. They last held talks in Seoul on August 19. Meanwhile, bilateral trade volume has hit a new high this year, and people-to-people exchanges are expected to reach 10 million visits.
South Korea’s exports to China surged 133.6 percent year-on-year to $26.98 billion in October, exceeding $20 billion for the fifth consecutive month, according to South Korean official data.
Industry tracker Flight Master told the Global Times recently that Chinese mainland flights to South Korea led all overseas routes in October, hitting 114.5 percent of pre-pandemic levels and surpassing volumes seen in the same month of 2019. The growing air connectivity between China and South Korea has coincided with a surge in people-to-people exchanges as bilateral ties have warmed.
People-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries are the social foundation of bilateral relations, helping to bring the two peoples closer and enhance mutual understanding and trust, Yang said, adding that growing people-to-people exchanges between China and South Korea also help steer bilateral ties toward more stable, pragmatic and sustainable development.
Nearly three-quarters of South Koreans support developing relations with China, while more than 80 percent back bilateral economic and trade cooperation, according to a Gallup Korea survey commissioned by the Chinese Embassy in South Korea that was released on October 30.
China-South Korea relations are extending toward more forward-looking and diversified industrial cooperation, which not only further taps the complementarity of the two countries’ industrial strengths but also injects new growth momentum into bilateral relations, Yang said. –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
