Premier Li Keqiang met with President of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Moon Jae-in in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, on Dec 23. Moon is in China for the 8th China-Japan-ROK leaders' meeting.

Since establishing bilateral ties between China and ROK, the relationship between the two countries has been developing quickly, said Premier Li. As each other's close neighbor and major trade partner, the two countries have seen bilateral trade volume of over $300 billion.

The Premier said that China and ROK have similar cultural backgrounds and enjoy a long history of friendly exchanges. Bearing in mind the overall and long-term interests, China highly values its relationship with ROK and is willing to improve the China-ROK ties long-term. It is very significant for the peace, stability, development and prosperity of China, ROK and even the whole Northeast Asia for the two countries to increase political mutual trust, expand cooperation, boost people-to-people exchanges, and promote a sustainable and healthy development of the China-ROK relationship.

Premier Li said China and ROK should make use of each other's complementary advantages and strengthen their economic and trade cooperation to jointly face the depression and downward pressure of the world economy and trade, in order to turn China-ROK cooperation into a driving force of regional and world economic development.

According to Premier Li, China is willing to increase coordination of the two countries' development strategies with an open and inclusive attitude. Cooperation in third-party market, scientific and technological innovation and service industry will be actively discussed, while cooperation in tackling climate change, environmental protection and other fields will be further carried on for mutual benefit and win-win results.

Premier Li said this year marks the 20th anniversary of the China-Japan-ROK cooperation, and China is willing to promote the three-party cooperation with ROK and Japan, maintain multilateralism and free trade, especially to promote the early signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), make substantial progress in negotiations for the China-Japan-ROK free trade agreement (FTA), and send a positive signal to the region and the world.

Moon said since China and ROK established diplomatic relations, the two countries have seen results in political, economic and cultural cooperation, realized common development, and made contributions to the peaceful development of Northeast Asia and the world at large.

Against the backdrop of the global economic slowdown and increasing uncertainties, ROK agreed to face the challenges together, Moon said.

ROK would like to strengthen docking their strategies, promote the third-party market cooperation for early outcomes, increase people-to-people exchanges, and enhance cooperation in fields such as sports, culture and tourism.

ROK is willing to work with China to promote the early signing of RCEP, and take practical actions to maintain free trade.

State Councilor and Secretary-General of the State Council Xiao Jie also attended the meeting.