President Lee Myung-bak and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao held a mini-summit at a hotel in Pattaya, Thailand, Saturday (Apr. 11). The meeting took place amid severe anti-government protests near the Royal Cliff Grand Hotel, the ASEAN+3 summit''s main venue.

In the meeting, President Lee highly evaluated Chinese government''s fiscal spending policies aimed at recovering from the economic crisis, and said that China''s economic revival would have a positive ripple effect on the world economy.

The President also said that he pinned expectations on the suggestion Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made during the Fukuoka summit last year that the volume of bilateral trade be maintained at the level of 2008''s in spite of the economic difficulties.

President Lee suggested Korea''s Ministry of Knowledge Economy and China''s Ministry of Commerce hold working-level meetings to monitor such bilateral trade policies.

The Chinese Premier said in response that he would do his part to activate the contact between the two countries'' trade ministries. The premier also said he would closely cooperate with Korea in financial cooperation and the surveillance of international financial system, in efforts to recover from the financial crisis.

 
Lee said Korea and China had cooperated closely and proactively to deal with North Korea''s latest rocket launch provocation, through the United Nations and other channels.