PREVIEW OF ROK-PRC SUMMIT, JOINT STATEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SEOUL 001061 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2018 TAGS: KS PGOV PREL CH KN SUBJECT: PREVIEW OF ROK-PRC SUMMIT, JOINT STATEMENT Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Yun. Reasons 1.4(b/d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: During the May 27-30 Summit with PRC President Hu Jintao in Beijing, President Lee Myung-bak will agree to upgrade the Korea-China relationship from the current "Comprehensive Cooperative Partnership" to one of "Strategic Cooperative Partnership," said Noh Kyu-duk, Director of MOFAT's China and Mongolia Division. The two sides will also discuss the state of play in the Six Party Talks, North Korean refugees in China, the potential for a PRC-ROK free trade agreement (FTA),and other bilateral issues. Noh provided poloffs with a Chinese draft of a joint statement for the summit, attached at the end of this message. END SUMMARY. -------------- PRC-ROK Strategic Dialogue -------------- ¶2. (C) Noh said that the upgrade from a "comprehensive" to "strategic" dialogue would be mostly symbolic, with little planned in the way of actual substance. Noh noted, however, that such a strategic dialogue could gradually broaden the ROK-PRC relationship beyond immediate bilateral issues to include medium- and long-term issues, including the future of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. The first follow-up "strategic dialogue" meeting will be held between the respective First Vice Foreign Ministers, ROK VFM Kwon Jong-rak and PRC standing Vice Minister Wan Yi, in either July or August. In response to a question, Noh said that it was still too early to discuss any type of military cooperation with China. -------------- North Korea Issues -------------- ¶3. (C) President Lee will emphasize that the Second Phase of the Six Party Talks should be implemented thoroughly but quickly, said Noh. While President Lee will explain his "Denuclearization and Opening 3000" vision to bring about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and raise the per capita income in North Korea to USD 3000, Noh anticipated that the Chinese would hesitate to comment on the policy in light of the DPRK's rejection of the policy. ¶4. (C) On North Korean refugees, President Lee will ask President Hu to stop the refoulement of North Korean refugees in China to North Korea. Furthermore, President Lee will ask for Chinese authorities to speed up the processing times for ROK-bound North Korean refugees. In a separate meeting, however, MOFAT Inter-Korean Policy Division Director Chin Ki-hoon said that former President Roh Moo-hyun had repeatedly raised the refoulement issue with Chinese leaders, only to be told each time that the North Koreans were illegal economic migrants. -------------- PRC-ROK FTA -------------- ¶5. (C) The Chinese will press President Lee to launch negotiations on a PRC-ROK FTA, predicted Noh, but the Korean response will be to defer the issue to a later time. A joint PRC-ROK research commission on the feasibility of such an FTA would likely reach its conclusions by next month, according to Noh, but the ROK is attempting to put further developments on hold. Noh mentioned that President Lee would say something along the lines of, "On the basis of such research (of the joint commission),we will explore the possibility of such an FTA further." Noh mentioned that China and Japan were "very aggressive" in pursuing FTAs with the ROK. To call attention to ROK-China economic ties, President Lee will travel to Qingdao, where 100,000 South Koreans operate factories and businesses. (Note: ROK-China two-way trade volume reached USD 145 billion in 2007, more than double its level in 2003, when ROK-China and ROK-U.S. trade volume was about equal. END NOTE.) -------------- SEOUL 00001061 002 OF 003 Other Bilateral Issues -------------- ¶6. (C) During President Lee's visit, the ROK will announce the opening of a Korean consulate general in Wuhan, and expect that the Chinese will ask to upgrade their consulate in Gwangju to a consulate general when President Hu visits the ROK, said Noh. ¶7. (C) Noh further added that President Lee will confirm Korea's continued commitment to the One China Policy and will promise to attend the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony on August 8. President Lee will also invite Hu Jintao to visit Seoul on his way to the G8 Summit in July. President Lee will warn the Chinese to "keep it cool" on the Goguryeo issue, which was not currently a "hot" issue. The two leaders will agree to further cooperation in dealing with weapons of mass destruction, high-tech crime, global warming, international terrorism, and financial crimes, but are not expected to go into these issues in any detail. -------------- Draft Joint Statement -------------- ¶8. (C) Noh provided poloffs with China's suggested draft for a joint statement, below, saying that he expected his ROKG colleagues to suggest only minor changes to it: KOREA-CHINA JOINT STATEMENT President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea paid a state visit to the People's Republic of China from May 27 to 30, 2008, at the invitation of President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China and received a cordial and warm greeting from the government and the people of China. During the visit, President Lee Myung-bak and President Hu Jintao held a summit meeting in Beijing. President Lee also held talks with Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, Wen Jiabao, Premier of the State Council, and Jia Qinglin, President of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In these talks, President Lee and Chinese leaders engaged in an in-depth exchange of views on even greater advances in the ties of friendship and cooperation between Korea and China, as well as on regional and international issues of common interest, and came to a common understanding on a wide range of fields. The two Presidents highly commended the speedy development of relations between Korea and China since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992 and agreed to upgrade the Korea-China relationship from the existing "Comprehensive Cooperative Partnership" to "Strategic Cooperative Partnership" and to further strengthen the exchanges and cooperation in all areas including diplomacy, security, commerce, society, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. In recognition of the need to step up their bilateral dialogue and cooperation, both sides agreed to establish diplomatic strategic dialogue mechanism and to hold the existing bilateral security dialogue on a regular basis. Both sides agreed to further strengthen the exchanges between their leaders, government, congress and political parties. Both sides recognized the long history of exchanges between the two countries to be a precious asset for their friendly relations and agreed to actively hold academic exchanges between their fields of history to strengthen their mutual understanding of history. The Chinese side emphasized that there is but one China in the world and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory. The Korean side expressed its due understanding and respect for China's stance and indicated that it will continue to adhere to the position that the SEOUL 00001061 003 OF 003 government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government of China. Both sides highly commended that the Joint Research on Korea-China FTA is making smooth progress and agreed to continue to study how to deal with this matter on the basis of the policy proposals of the Joint Research. The Chinese side positively commended the progress in the South-North reconciliation and cooperation, redeclared its firm and unchanging support for the reconciliation of inter-Korean relations, and ultimately achieving peaceful unification. The Chinese side expressed its expectation that Republic of Korea would continue to play an active role to realize South-North co-prosperity and peaceful unification. The Korean side highly commended that the Chinese side played a constructive role to realize peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. Both sides shared the recognition that the second phase measures for the implementation of the Joint Statement of September 2005 should be comprehensively completed as soon as possible in accordance with the principle of "action for action". Both sides agreed to make a joint effort to push through the materialization of the goals set by the Six-Party Talks. The two sides shared the recognition that their cooperation is essential for the progress of the Six-Party Talks and denuclearization on the Korean peninsula and agreed to continue their close cooperation towards the peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and the Northeast Asian region as a whole. The two Leaders agreed to continue their close cooperation at the work of the United Nations and concurred that the United Nations regime should be reformed in such a way as to enhance the authority and efficiency of the world body as well as its transparency, democracy, and representativeness. Both sides expressed their support for the every effort made by the UNSG to enhance the efficiency and responsibility of the UN. Both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation in dealing with the global warming, the proliferation of WMD, international terrorism, financial and economic crimes, piracy, and high-tech crimes. VERSHBOW