Wang Yi Holds Talks with ROK Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong

On September 15, 2021 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong in Seoul.

Wang Yi said, China and the ROK are and will remain close neighbors. What's more important, the two countries are inseparable partners. Next year, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. For nearly three decades, the two countries have brought to an end estrangement and unfamiliarity and engaged themselves in close exchanges and strategic cooperative partnership, while China-ROK relations have continuously reached new heights and become more mature and stable. The two countries have witnessed their annual trade volume exceeding the mark of 300 billion U.S. dollars, the annual flow of the people entering the era of 10 million trips, and accumulative mutual investments approximating 100 billion U.S. dollars. Both countries have not only achieved mutual benefit and win-win results at the bilateral level, but also stayed in communication and coordinated to their best efforts in international and regional affairs, thus playing a positive role as a guardian of peace and stability and facilitator for development and prosperity. The world today is undergoing momentous changes of a kind unseen in a century, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated these changes. Under the new circumstances, the two countries should further establish the awareness that we are a community, continue to expand common interests and tap the potential of cooperation, and push for further quality improvement and upgrade of China-ROK relations and better, quicker, more steady, more comprehensive and more sustainable development.

Wang Yi said, China is willing to maintain high-level exchanges and strategic communication with the ROK and keep the bilateral relations on the right course. China supports the Committee for Future Development of China-ROK Relations in conducting in-depth exchanges, gathering the wisdom of all parties, preparing well for the events in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, and planning for the development in the next 30 years. It is important to make good use of the joint prevention and control mechanism and the "fast track" for the flow of essential personnel, deepen cooperation on the pandemic response and vaccines, and oppose politicizing the COVID-19 origin-tracing and turning it into a convenient tool. The two countries should speed up the alignment of their development strategies and the second-phase negotiations on the free trade agreement (FTA), step up cooperation in such industries as integrated circuit, information and communication, and big data, and boost the high-quality, integrated development of bilateral pragmatic cooperation. The two countries should make the "China-ROK Year of Cultural Exchanges" a success and expand people-to-people exchanges. The Chinese side appreciates the ROK for supporting China in hosting the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and supports the ROK in hosting the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon.

Noting that both China and the ROK stand for multilateralism and a free trade system, Wang Yi said, the two countries can strengthen cooperation on global issues such as climate change and reform of the Security Council within multilateral frameworks including the United Nations (UN), the Group of 20 (G20) and the World Trade Organization, jointly safeguard the security and stability of regional and global industrial and supply chains, facilitate the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership as scheduled, and boost global data security.

Chung Eui-yong said, in the midst of COVID-19, the ROK and China have maintained high-level communication and recorded the growth of two-way trade against the headwinds and further expansion of cooperation in all fields, setting an example of state-to-state exchanges amid the pandemic outbreak. Chung Eui-yong hopes that the two sides will continue to strengthen high-level interactions, promote anti-pandemic cooperation, launch the second-phase negotiations on the bilateral FTA at an early date, and deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence, semiconductors and new materials, so as to inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations. Together with China, the ROK is willing to seize the opportunity of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries and the "ROK-China Year of Cultural Exchanges", give full play to the role of the Committee for Future Development of ROK-China Relations, expand people-to-people exchanges, and further develop future-oriented ROK-China relations. The ROK hopes that China could further support the peace progress on the Korean Peninsula. The ROK supports carrying out international cooperation on origin-tracing in an open and transparent manner, and disagrees with politicizing origin-tracing. The ROK supports China in hosting the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and stands ready to beef up coordination and cooperation with China in multilateral organizations such as the UN and the G20 and jointly tackle the pandemic, climate change and other global challenges, in a bid to contribute positively to world peace and prosperity.

The two sides agree to establish a regular communication mechanism between foreign ministers of the two countries and hold a new round of high-level strategic dialogue between foreign ministries of China and the ROK and China-ROK "2+2" dialogue on diplomacy and security as soon as possible.

Both sides also exchanged in-depth views on international and regional issues of common concern.