Hu put forward a number of proposals to promote this new partnership. He called on the two countries to keep carrying out frequent exchanges at all levels, and to make full use of their dialogue and consultation mechanisms and confer with each other on major issues of common concern. Both countries should adjust and enrich the long and medium-term planning of their economic and trade cooperation to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, he said. They should step up their efforts to build a free trade area in a bid to forge closer economic ties, he added.

Hu also called for stronger ties between young people in the two countries, while urging both countries to work more closely on major international and regional issues, including Northeast Asian peace and stability, UN reform and climate change.

On the North Korean nuclear issue, Hu said China would like to join hands with other parties concerned to implement the agreements reached in the six-party talks, advance the process of the talks and strive for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

As a close neighbor of the peninsula and a friend of both South Korea and North Korea, China supports the reconciliation and cooperation between the two sides and plays a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and achieving the long-term stability of Northeast Asia, Hu added.

Balance counts

A former entrepreneur, Lee values "pragmatism" and is committed to seeking "real benefits," Zhang said. To boost South Korea's economy, he has to maintain good relations with such major countries as Japan and China. Given China's huge market, he cannot afford to downplay China's importance, he said.

The establishment of China-South Korea "strategic cooperative partnership" is conducive to the development of the two countries' economic relations, said Cui Zhiying, Director of the Office of Korean Peninsula Studies at the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at Tongji University. Since the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, South Korea has increasingly come to realize the value of the Chinese market. Lee must rely on the Chinese market to fulfill his political goal of reviving South Korea's economy.

"More than 30 business tycoons visited China along with Lee, which testified to the great store that South Korea sets by economic diplomacy," Cui said.

Business is only part of the story. Cui pointed out that the standoff in the North Korean nuclear issue might eventually take a toll on South Korea's development, and China's support and cooperation would be crucial to the settlement of the issue. South Korea also needs China's strategic collaboration in building a peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula and a security mechanism in Northeast Asia, he added.

South Korea moved closer to the United States and Japan after Lee's conservative Grand National Party assumed power, Cui said. At the same time, South Korea has been aware that it is doing itself no good by focusing only on its alliances with the United States and Japan in the post-Cold War age when profound changes have taken place in Northeast Asia. For this very reason, South Korea has been devoted to pursuing a diplomatic balance, he said. Nevertheless, there is still no doubt that the Seoul-Washington alliance is the axis of South Korea's diplomatic policy and the basis for its relations with other major powers, he said.

In the joint statement issued during Lee's visit, China and South Korea agreed to establish a high-level strategic dialogue mechanism between the two countries' diplomatic authorities and institutionalize their existing dialogue on diplomacy and security.

They agreed that cooperation between China, South Korea and Japan is vital to peace, stability and prosperity in Asia and vowed to make joint efforts to maintain regular exchanges, including meetings between their state leaders and foreign ministers.

Both countries promised to work toward a balance in their bilateral trade. South Korea expressed its willingness to attend trade and investment fairs in China and send prospective South Korean buyers and investors to China on study tours.

They also pledged to strengthen their cooperation in a wide range of fields, including mobile telecommunications, nuclear power, oil reserves, resource exploitation, renewable energy, intellectual property protection, food safety, finance and environmental protection.

Apart from the two countries' burgeoning economic ties, Zhang underlined the necessity for them to work together on environmental protection, a need that is highlighted by the fact that China's sandstorms affect South Korea. They also have a growing need to strengthen their political consultation as the six-party talks forge ahead. On the military front, it would be possible for them to set up a military hotline, exchange military visits and conduct marine search and rescue exercises, he said.