Relationship with Seoul a priority in Beijing's neighborhood diplomacy

Beijing reaffirmed that its relationship with Seoul is a priority in China's neighborhood diplomacy and called for both countries to respect each other's sovereignty, security and development interests, amid concern that the US' possible deployment of missiles in the Republic of Korea may spark tensions.

China attaches great importance to the relationship with the ROK and always makes it a priority in China's neighborhood diplomacy, President Xi Jinping told his ROK counterpart, Park Geun-hye, during their meeting on Thursday in Washington.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 4th Nuclear Security Summit and went on for 20 minutes longer than expected. It was the first meeting between Xi and Park since Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in January.

The ROK and the United States began talks about possibly deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense missile system just hours after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's launch of a long-range rocket on Feb 7.

Interactions stressed

In the 80-minute talk on Thursday, Xi said: "China and the ROK should maintain the momentum of high-level interactions, make use of the existing mechanisms of strategic communication, accommodate each other's major concerns and respect each other's sovereignty, security and development interests."

Echoing Xi's remarks on the bilateral ties, Park said her frequent interactions with Xi are a symbol indicating the significance of the ROK-China relationship and said Seoul will advance its strategic partnership of cooperation with Beijing in a sustained manner.

On Thursday, Xi also called for all sides to "fully and strictly" carry out the latest UN resolutions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and stressed that dialogue and consultations "represent the only right way to settle the predicament on the peninsula".

Beijing stands ready to make constructive efforts toward resuming dialogue within the framework of the six-party talks, Xi added.

In response, Park said the ROK is willing to maintain close communications with China on relevant issues.

DPRK response

Hours after the leaders of the US, ROK and Japan vowed to ramp up pressure on Pyongyang and warned it to end provocations on Thursday, the DPRK fired a short-range missile into the sea off its east coast on Friday, AP reported.

Zuo Xiying, an international studies specialist at the National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University of China, said China and the ROK did not shy away from raising their differences during the meeting, which will help to clarify each other's interests and concerns and is thus, conducive to the strategic communication between them.

"Meanwhile, the facts have proved several times that simply putting pressure on Pyongyang only makes it more provocative toward the international community, and we should realize that the strategy to solve this problem is a complex one," Zuo added.

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Hezi Jiang contributed to this story.