China-ROK relations their 'best in history'(3)

REGIONAL PEACE

On regional issues, analysts believe China and the ROK share many similarities.

"The two sides will exchange views on maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula during the upcoming visit," said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin at a press briefing on Xi's visit on Tuesday.

The Northeast Asia situation is relevant to the immediate interests of China and the ROK. The Korean Peninsula situation is currently quite stable, but some unstable factors still exist, said Zhang Tingyan, former Chinese ambassador to the ROK.

The two countries should enhance communication and cooperation, commit themselves to safeguarding peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, to realize denuclearization of the peninsula, Zhang said.

According to Qu Xing, the issue will be an inevitable topic during Xi's visit.

"The visit will help send positive signals for efforts to bring the denuclearization of the peninsula under discussion within the six-party talks framework," Qu said.

As for Japan, Qu pointed out that China and the ROK are among the countries which suffered most from Japanese aggression in the past.

"Both China and the ROK are pressing Japan to correctly understand its historical issues and keep on high alert against its right-leaning trail," Qu said.

COOPERATION ON SENSITIVE ISSUES

In addition, experts hailed the progress and successful cooperation between the two countries on historical issues which were considered sensitive in the past.

The remains of 437 Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War returned to China from the ROK earlier this year after Park offered to return the remains during her China visit last year.

A memorial was established in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, to commemorate Ahn Jung Geun, a Korean patriot who killed a top Japanese official over a century ago for the independence of his motherland and peace in East Asia.

The memorial has received between 500 and 600 visitors a day since it opened in January.

"These new moves show that cooperation between the two countries has moved from non-sensitive fields to traditionally sensitive ones," said Yang Xiyu, a Korean Peninsula analyst and a senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

Surmounting such sensitive areas, bilateral cooperation will be upgraded and enter a more pragmatic stage, Yang said.