"My sister bought one last week, which works well with less noise and I decided to follow her."

Since China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) established diplomatic ties in 1992, ROK products and brands flowed into the neighboring huge market and trade volume between the two countries increased by nearly 800 percent by 2002.

Statistics from the Chinese Customs show that China-ROK trade hit US$44.07 billion in 2002 while the volume was only US$5.03 billion in 1992.

Chinese consumers have become increasingly enamored of ROK products, including cars, television sets, air-conditioners, digital cameras and even cosmetics and households appliances.

In the first five months of 2003, China-ROK trade climbed 44.5 percent to US$22.74 billion on a year-on-year basis, according to Chinese Customs.

China exported US$7.18 billion worth of goods to the ROK while imports from ROK totaled US$15.56 billion in the January-May period of 2003.

The trade volume will exceed US$50 billion in 2004, local trade experts said, noting investment had become a major factor in fueling bilateral trade.

In 2002, the contractual volume of ROK investment to China was US$5.28 billion while the actual absorbed investment was US$2.72 billion, according to the statistics of the Asian department of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

Accumulative ROK investment to China was US$30.31 billion and used investment was US$16.94 billion as of May 2003, MOC figures show.

The ROK has become the sixth largest overseas investor in China, MOC statistics show.

The ROK investment was mainly clustered around north China's Bohai Sea and was expanding to the vast inner and west areas of China, the MOC Asian department said.

Li Guanghui, deputy director of the Department of Asian and African studies of the MOC think-tank, the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said China and the ROK shared similarities in natural resources, markets, capital, technology and management.

Those conditions helped to ensure the high-growth bilateral trade and would provide fertile ground for the future development of trade between the two countries, Li said.

The main commodities the ROK exported to China would continue to be machinery and electronic products, audio and video products, and parts and chemical products, while Chinese products exported to ROK would focus on machinery and electronic products, fabric and garments, Li said.

As two major countries in East Asia, Li said, China and the ROK shouldered a responsibility to promote bilateral trade and facilitate regional economic cooperation to exert their due contribution to the prosperity of Asia and of the world as a whole.

(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2003)