People wearing face masks watch a television news broadcast showing a speech of South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the occasion of the third anniversary of his inauguration, at a railway station in Seoul. Photo: AFP

China's top economic planner released overall guidelines on Tuesday to accelerate the establishment of a demonstration zone with South Korea for international cooperation, with key tasks surrounding promoting industrial chain cooperation, enhancing opening-up as well as innovation and people-to-people exchanges.

Covering an area of 36 square kilometers in the short term - and about 210 square kilometers in the long term - the zone is located in the northeastern part of Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin Province, according to a document posted on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission.

The guidelines stressed the need to step up cooperation with South Korea and other domestic and foreign large companies in sectors such as artificial intelligence, 5G, high-end equipment and healthcare.

It also called for strengthened tourism cooperation between the two countries at all levels and encouraged South Korean tourism organizations to set up branches in the zone to promote cross-border tourism.

As some countries' unilateralism and trade protectionism have impacted the global economy and trade and the global pandemic has battered every economy to some extent, setting up an international cooperation zone with South Korea will not only inject new momentum into China's economy but can also deepen the two countries' economic and trade cooperation, Li Tianguo, associate professor at the National Institute of International Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

China's foreign trade with South Korea stood at $85.4 billion in the first four months of 2020 amid COVID-19, down 7.3 percent year-on-year.

Global Times