By Sohn JiAe
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae

President Moon Jae-in met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Chairman Zhang Dejiang of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, in Beijing on Dec. 15, the third day of his official state visit to China.

During the meeting with the premier, President Moon outlined a new set of cooperative goals that the two countries would pursue: jointly reducing particulate matter and air-borne pollution; cooperating on healthcare and the protection of fishery resources in the Yellow Sea; jointly preparing for the fourth industrial revolution; and, lastly, increasing exchanges of human resources in terms of the arts and heritage.

“Basically, Korea and China don’t have any conflict. If we take advantage of our own strong points and pursue complementary cooperation, it would contribute to better ties, not only between Seoul and Beijing, but also among Eastern Asian countries,” said the Chinese premier.

Li then mentioned the signings of a total of seven MOUs during the Korea-China summit, saying that, “President Moon’s state visit this time will help both sides resume negotiations on joint projects that have long been halted. As for the signed MOUs on the economy, trade, energy and healthcare, areas that have huge potential for growth, what’s more important is to implement the agreements faithfully. I hope we will create good results together.”

President Moon likened Korea-China ties to the game of go when he said, “Our relationship went through the period of misaeng (미생), a go term that means ‘incomplete life,’ and reached the period of wansaeng (완생), meaning ‘complete life.’”

“I now hope that the ties will enter a period of sangsaeng (상생), a period of coexistence, in the future. I hope my visit to China will be the first step into the sangsaeng era.”



Prior to talks with the premier, President Moon also met with Chairman Zhang Dejiang of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to talk about ways to revitalize networks between legislative organizations in both countries.

“Bilateral ties should grow not only between government bodies, but also between people from all walks of life. To this end, it’s crucial that the National Assembly of Korea and the National People's Congress should have close ties and communications,” he said.

jiae5853@korea.kr