On August 27, 2004, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political and Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Jia Qinglin met with ROK National Assembly Speaker Kim One-ki and Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan.
When meeting with National Assembly Speaker Kim One-ki, Jia Qinglin made positive remarks on the rapid development of China-ROK relations. He said that politically, leaders of the two countries have maintained the momentum in exchanges of visits with mutual understanding and trust increasingly deepened. Economically, mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides has been continuously strengthened and the first half of this year has witnessed the two countries' trade volume reaching US$ 41.3 billion, an year-on-year increase of 55.5%. In such areas as culture, education, science and technology, exchanges and cooperation between both sides has also been increasingly expanded.
Jia Qinglin made the following four proposals on the development of China-ROK relations in the next stage. First, both sides should maintain the momentum in exchanges of high-level visits, strengthen communication and cooperation and properly handle specific issues in bilateral ties. Secondly, both sides should give full play to the advantage of strong complementarities in the two countries' economy and further explore exchanges and cooperation in economy, trade and other areas, so as to enrich the connotation of China-ROK comprehensive cooperative partnership. Thirdly, both sides should enhance communication and coordination in the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue in a bid to push the six-party talks towards even greater substantive progress. Fourthly, both sides should intensify coordination and collaboration in the process of cooperation in Northeast Asia, East Asia and the Asian Region at large, in order to jointly promote peace, stability and prosperity of the region.
Jia Qinglin also gave a brief introduction to the CPPCC's work. He noted that in foreign affairs, the CPPCC commits itself to promoting world peace and development and enhancing mutual understanding and exchanges between the Chinese people and people of other countries. The CPPCC would like to conduct exchanges with the ROK National Assembly and its various special committees so as to contribute to the development of China-ROK friendly relations.
When meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, Jia Qinglin pointed out that economic and trade cooperation is an important part of China-ROK comprehensive cooperative partnership and since last year, bilateral economic and trade relations have been advanced by leaps and bounds with progress to various extent made in cooperation in high and new tech, infrastructure construction and the tertiary industry. China welcomes ROK businesses to further expand investments in China and encourages Chinese companies to invest and prosper in the ROK. Both sides also exchanged views on how to realize a general balance in bilateral trade.
Both National Assembly Speaker Kim One-ki and Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan expressed their welcome to Jia Qinglin's visit. They indicated that since the heads of state of the two countries announced the establishment of ROK-China comprehensive cooperative partnership last year, bilateral cooperation in various areas has developed rapidly. The ROK government and people appreciate and thank China for playing a constructive role in the resolution of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and expressed admiration for China's tremendous achievements in the process of reform and opening up. Since the diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1992, the ROK has always adhered to the one-China policy, which will never change. The development of ROK-China relations serves the common interest of the two countries and it is believed that through joint efforts, some differences in bilateral ties can be properly addressed so that ROK-China relations can score further development.
On the evening of the same day, Kim One-ki held a welcoming banquet for Jia Qinglin and his delegation.