According to Liu Zepeng, director of the State Office of Overseas Affairs, this is also the first relative-visiting meeting held in China for overseas Chinese in a particular country. The meeting is based on relative passion, townfellow passion, cooperation and development. The event intends to promote trade and friendship between the two sides.

Jointly sponsored by Liu's office, the Shandong provincial government and the Yantai municipal government, the event has attracted more than 115 representatives from the ROK and 60 domestic participants.

According to the organizing committee, all of the participants from the ROK are influential people in overseas Chinese associations and organizations.

Yesterday the participants discussed a wide range of issues on cooperation and exchanges between China and the ROK in the new century, China's peace and reunification and world peace. They are scheduled to visit the cities of Weihai and Qingdao in Shandong during the six-day event.

Shandong Province faces the ROK on its eastern coast, and the ROK is a major gathering country for overseas Chinese. Statistics show that there are more than 250,000 overseas Chinese in the country, 95 percent of which are from Shandong and half from Yantai.

Korean Chinese have contributed much to building the friendship and trade exchanges between the two countries, and is expected to make more contributions to Sino-ROK relations in the future.

In Shandong, overseas Chinese from the ROK have been playing an important role in the province's attraction of foreign funds.

To date, the number of Korean-funded projects totaled 6,790, with an overall contracted foreign fund value reaching US$9 billion. Shandong has set up friendship relations with 12 ROK cities.

(China Daily September 23, 2002)