China Calls for Immediate Free Trade Talks with S. Korea
Korea Times, Seoul
China Calls for Immediate Free Trade Talks with S. Korea
13 December 2008
China Saturday called for an immediate opening of free trade talks with South Korea.
In a bilateral meeting between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, “Wen displayed his wish for an immediate opening of free trade talks between South Korea and China,” Yonhap News reported Saturday quoting presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.
In recent years, China expressed a desire to forge a free trade pact with South Korea. Seoul, however, prioritized its signing such a deal with the United States first, as it believed that doing so would give South Korea more leverage in its negotiation with China later, observers said.
President Lee also expressed gratitude for China’s decision to expand its currency swap line with South Korea that will be helpful for Seoul to ride out the global financial crisis.
In May, Lee and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to upgrade Seoul-Beijing relations from a "comprehensive cooperative partnership" to a "strategic cooperative partnership."
In their subsequent meeting held in Seoul on Aug. 25, Lee and Hu issued a joint summit statement vowing to significantly deepen bilateral political, economic, cultural and personnel exchanges to follow up on the strategic cooperative partnership.
Meanwhile, in Japan, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao agreed to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in forcing North Korea to abandon its nuclear program during their bilateral talks here on Saturday, Lee’s office said.
