Chinese FM urges strategic cooperation, mutual trust with South Korea

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday that China and South Korea should strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust and pursue strategic cooperation in political, economic, trade and security fields.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, made the remarks when holding a strategic dialogue with Wi Sung-lac, South Korea's top presidential national security advisor, in Seoul.

Wang said that the exchange of visits between the two heads of state since last year has ushered China-South Korea relations into a new stage of improvement and development.

China's policy toward South Korea has remained consistent and stable, always placing it high on China's agenda for neighborhood diplomacy, Wang said.

As South Korea's largest neighbor and an important force for peace, China has never initiated or participated in wars and has consistently played a constructive role in promoting the peaceful settlement of international and regional disputes, he added.

Wang said that China appreciates the current administration's efforts to bring China-South Korea strategic cooperative partnership back on track, calling on the two sides to reduce unnecessary suspicion and strengthen strategic cooperation to benefit both peoples and contribute to regional peace and security.

Wang expressed hope that South Korea will pursue genuine strategic autonomy, refrain from bloc confrontation or taking sides, and develop its relations with China, the United States and other major countries in a mutually compatible manner.

For his part, Wi said that South Korea is ready to work with China to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, deliver tangible outcomes, improve the well-being of both peoples and advance the strategic cooperative partnership to a new level.

Wi added that South Korea is committed to developing relations with different countries in a mutually compatible manner and is ready to maintain close high-level strategic dialogue with China to join forces for regional peace and stability.

During the dialogue, the two sides also had an in-depth exchange of views on regional security issues.

Wang stressed that it is necessary to remain highly vigilant against the rhetoric and actions of Japan's right-wing forces that seek to turn back the wheel of history, and that the resurgence of Japanese militarism must never be allowed.

Speaking on the Korean Peninsula situation, Wang said the fundamental way to ease tensions is to address the root causes and to push for the United States to abandon its hostile policy toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).