China is willing to work with the Republic of Korea (ROK) to promote the continuous development of China-ROK strategic cooperative partnership, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday.
Xi made the remarks when meeting with ROK's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, who will attend the opening ceremony of the 19th edition of the Asian Games.
Noting that China and the ROK are immovable close neighbors and inseparable cooperative partners, Xi said the steady and solid advancement of the bilateral ties serves the common interests of the two countries and their peoples and bodes well for regional peace and development.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo of the Republic of Korea in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, September 23, 2023. /Xinhua
Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1992, friendship and cooperation have always been the mainstream of China-ROK relations, said Xi, adding that China adheres to a good-neighborly and friendly policy towards the ROK and values its positive willingness to commit to China-ROK cooperation.
He expressed the hope that the ROK will work with China in the same direction, formulate policies and take actions that demonstrate the importance attached to China-ROK relations, uphold mutual respect, and stick to the direction of friendship and cooperation.
China and the ROK have close economic ties and deep integration of industrial and supply chains, Xi said, calling on the two countries to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and continue to achieve mutual success.
Noting that both sides advocate maintaining multilateralism and the global free trade system, the Chinese president urged efforts to strengthen communication and coordination to promote the international order to develop in a more just and reasonable direction.
Han Duck-soo, for his part, said the ROK, as China's close neighbor, wishes the Games a full success.
Amid the international community facing multiple challenges, the ROK and China maintain high-level exchanges, which is conducive to promoting the development of bilateral relations and jointly addressing challenges, he said.
The ROK stands ready to work with China to develop sound and mature bilateral relations, Han Duck-soo said, calling for enhancing economic and trade cooperation, as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and upholding multilateralism and free trade to jointly promote world economic recovery and growth.
(With input from Xinhua)