CHINA-SOUTH KOREA: SUMMIT
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After a three-hour meeting on July 3, 2014, where they discussed a range of security, economic and cultural issues, China’s President Xi Jinping and South Korean leader, Park Geun-hye, issued a joint statement that sought to smooth over differences in approach toward the development of nuclear weapons by North Korea. The joint communiqué said the “two countries reaffirm their firm opposition to the development of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.” With Xi Jinping standing beside her, Ms. Park read a statement that said the two leaders had agreed that the “denuclearization of North Korea must be achieved at all costs.” In their joint statement, the two countries pledged to complete a free-trade agreement that would bolster their already booming economic ties. Xi Jinping said that they hoped the accord would be completed within the year, and that annual two-way trade would increase to $300 billion by the end of 2014. He also disclosed that South Korea had agreed to consider joining the Chinese initiative for an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that Beijing is organizing as a mechanism for a Chinese-led effort to bankroll more infrastructure projects in underdeveloped Asian nations.
Ms. Park, who was meeting Xi Jinping for the fifth time, accompanied Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to a formal welcoming ceremony and signing of a visitors’ book.
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