President Jiang Meets ROK Prime Minister

President Jiang Zemin said Thursday that China will actively support any move that helps the peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.

Jiang made the remarks during a meeting with Lee Han-Dong, prime minister of the Republic of Korea (ROK), who is on a working visit to China beginning Tuesday.

Jiang said that it is a principle of China that any move conducive to the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will have the active support from China.

The Chinese side hopes to see that the relaxation process on the peninsula will continue and China will make its efforts toward that end, Jiang stressed.

The Chinese people, as people of other parts of the world, welcome and appreciate the positive changes on the Korean Peninsula following the historic summit meeting between the two sides of the Korean Peninsula, he said.

Lee said the ROK side thanks the Chinese side for its understanding and support over the efforts of the two sides of the Korean Peninsula to realize reconciliation.

The ROK prime minister extended greetings and best regards from ROK President Kim Dae-Jung to Jiang.

He said Kim is expecting to meet Jiang in October this year in Shanghai during the APEC meeting (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and exchange views on bilateral relations and other issues of mutual concern.

Recalling his wide-ranging talks with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, Lee said he and Zhu reached agreements on furthering bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, science, technology and culture.

He said he is convinced that this visit will inject new life into bilateral cooperation overall, voicing that the two countries enjoy great potential for cooperation in the new century.

Jiang noted that bilateral relations have had a rapid and overall development since the two countries forged diplomatic ties nine years ago.

China and ROK announced in 1998 that they establish a cooperative partnership oriented towards the 21st century, and the two sides decided last year to push forward that relationship to a higher level of full cooperation, which has played an important role in guiding a bilateral relationship to a long-term and steady development.

(Xinhua News Agency 06/21/2001)