Chinese President Xi Jinping's special representative Yang Jiechi (R) shakes hands with Chung Eui-yong, top national security advisor to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in Seoul, South Korea, March 29, 2018. Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the head of the General Office of the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs, held talks with Chung Eui-yong here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
SEOUL, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's special representative Yang Jiechi held talks with Chung Eui-yong, top national security advisor to South Korean President Moon Jae-in here on Thursday.
Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the head of the General Office of the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs, said that China and South Korea are friendly neighbors and the bilateral relations have maintained momentum of improvement and development in recent years.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of China-South Korea strategic cooperative partnership. Both parties should seize the opportunity, actively carry out the important consensus reached by President Xi Jinping and President Moon Jae-in, strengthen political communication, push forward the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.
The two countries should deepen pragmatic cooperation, enhance people-to-people exchanges, properly handle sensitive issues so as to push for new achievements in the bilateral relationship and bring benefits to both peoples, he said.
Yang briefed Chung on the recent visit of top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un to China. Yang said that as positive changes are taking place on the Korean Peninsula, the international community needs to take efforts to continue and consolidate the momentum.
The Chinese side expects the smooth holding of the inter-Korean summit and the DPRK-U.S. summit. China stands ready to strengthen communication and coordination with South Korea to work together to further ease the situation of the Korean Peninsula and push forward the political solution process of the Korean Peninsula issue in connection with China's "dual-track approach" and good suggestions from relevant parties, he said.
Chung said that after President Moon's visit to China last December, the bilateral relations have witnessed rapid progress. The South Korean side is willing to follow the consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen bilateral high-level exchanges, deepen cooperation in all areas, enhance people-to-people exchanges, and push for the greater development of South Korea-China strategic cooperative partnership.
Chung said the South Korean side speaks positively of China's recent successful reception for Kim Jong Un and the meeting of the Chinese, DPRK leaders. China has always been supporting the inter-Korean dialogue, advocating U.S.-DPRK contact, and has played a positive role in recent positive changes on the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean side highly appreciates that and expresses deep gratitude.
The South Korean side expects China to continue to play an important role in the Korean Peninsula issue and is ready to make joint efforts together with China to push for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and maintaining regional peace and stability, he said.
