BEIJING: China and South Korea should deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and achieve common development, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday in a phone call with his South Korean counterpart, Cho Hyun.
China and South Korea are important neighbors and cooperation partners, and upholding good neighborliness serves common interests of the two peoples, said Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
After the inauguration of the new South Korean government, the two heads of state held a phone call, bringing fresh positive dynamics to bilateral ties and charting the course for joint future work, Wang said in the call made at the request of the South Korean side.
He emphasized that China and South Korea should be genuine strategic cooperative partners and work together to elevate bilateral relations to higher levels. For that goal, the two sides should maintain policy stability, Wang said, adding that China has always attached great importance to developing cooperation with South Korea, and has maintained a consistent and stable policy toward South Korea.
Wang expressed hope that South Korea will likewise ensure that its China policy is stable, sustainable and predictable without vacillation.
The two countries should also uphold independence and autonomy. China-South Korea relations are based on shared interests and have brought benefits to the two peoples. They are not targeted at any third party, nor should they be constrained by any third party, said Wang.
In addition, he noted that China and South Korea should enhance mutual benefits. China and South Korea share close economic ties and deeply integrated industrial and supply chains.
As beneficiaries of multilateralism and free trade, China and South Korea should jointly oppose “decoupling” and disruptions to supply chains, and work together to maintain the stability and smooth flow of global industrial and supply chains, Wang stressed.
He also said China supports South Korea in hosting the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in the second half of this year.
For his part, Cho said South Korea attaches great significance to relations with China and looks forward to more high-level exchanges between the two countries, so as to promote greater development of the two countries’ strategic cooperative partnership in the future.
Noting that South Korea and China enjoy close economic and trade relations and have established a good cooperation model, Cho said South Korea is ready to actively advance bilateral free trade negotiations and deepen economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
South Korea looks forward to strengthening communication and coordination with China, facing up to history, and jointly maintaining regional peace and stability, he said.
The two sides also exchanged views on coordination and cooperation in multilateral areas, among other issues. -Agencies
