Chinese state councilor meets Japanese, ROK foreign ministers

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday met with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and ROK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha in Beijing.

During the meeting with Taro Kono, Wang said China and Japan should strengthen multilateral cooperation and oppose protectionism and unilateralism of all kinds.

The two countries should uphold multilateralism, free trade and the international system with the United Nations as its center, he said.

Wang said the China-Japan relationship has further improved and developed in recent period and both sides should cherish the hardly won result.

China is willing to continue to strengthen the political basis for bilateral ties and promote mutual trust and cooperation according to the principles of the four political documents between China and Japan, he said.

Wang called for efforts from both countries to keep close communication and expand the consensus of cooperation in such areas as politics, economy and people-to-people exchanges, in order to create necessary conditions and good environment for the high-level political exchanges in next step.

The State Councilor reiterated China's principled position on sensitive issues between the two countries, urging the two sides to strengthen risk prevention and control, deal with conflicts and differences in a constructive way to jointly improve bilateral ties.

He also reiterated Beijing’s opposition to Washington’s deployment of land-based intermediate-range missiles in the region.

Kono said the Japanese side is willing to work closely with China in deepening cooperation, promoting people-to-people exchanges and appropriately manage differences to ensure positive results of the bilateral high-level political exchanges in next step.

When meeting with Kang Kyung-wha, Wang said China and the Republic of Korea should strengthen cooperation in advanced technology and innovation.

The two countries should also maintain close coordination within multilateral frameworks such as the G20, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the ASEAN Plus Three, he said.

Wang said China hopes that the ROK will take the opportunities created by China's development and actively participate in jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, expand cooperation in third-party market and speed up the second round of free trade agreement talks.

China, Japan and the ROK should jointly uphold multilateralism and free trade, and China hopes that the ROK and Japan can appropriately deal with their existing differences through dialogue and coordination, he added.

The two sides also exchanged views over the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

The State Councilor said the issue is still on the track of political resolution and called for relevant parties to do more to promote understanding and build mutual trust.

Kang said the ROK is willing to work with China and create the new models for mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries and expand the scope and depth of this cooperation.