A Chinese senior leader has raised four-point proposals on development of relations between China and South Korea, said sources close to the visiting Chinese delegation Saturday.

Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the proposals during his meeting here with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim One-ki on Friday.

Jia positively evaluated the rapid development of Sino-South Korea ties in the past years.

He said the economic exchanges between the two nations grew rapidly, as the trade volume between China and South Korea has reached 41.3 billion US dollars in the first half of 2004, according to the sources.

In order to keep the development trend, Jia proposed to Kim One-ki to maintain senior level exchanges between the two countries, enhance communication and cooperation and deal with issues of mutual concern appropriately.

"The two countries shall take advantage of complementary nature of respective economy and enlarge exchanges and cooperation in economic field and so on," said Jia.

On the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsular, Jia said China is willing to strengthen cooperation with South Korea to push forward the six-party talks aimed to solve the nuclear issue toward tangible fruition.

The Chinese senior leader hopes the two countries will enhance cooperation in dealing with Northeast Asian, East Asian as well as the whole Asian affairs.

"China and South Korea shall make joint efforts to contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of the above regions," said Jia.

Jia Qinglin also held talks with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan on bilateral relations on Friday.

"Economic exchange is the most important part of the full cooperation partnership relations that forged by China and South Korea last year," Jia said during the meeting, adding China welcomes investment by South Korean enterprises.

The sources also quoted Kim On-ki and Lee Hae-chan as saying that after the leadership of China and South Korea decided to forge the full cooperation partnership in July last year, bilateral ties have undergone rapid progress in all fields.

The two South Korean leaders also said that the South Korean government and people admire and appreciate China's constructive role in dealing with the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim and Lee reiterated that after the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1992, South Korea has been holding the "One China" policy and will stick to it in the future.

They believe that the differences between the two countries can be resolved appropriately through joint efforts.

Jia Qinglin arrived here on Thursday afternoon for a four-day official visit to South Korea.

South Korea is the first leg of Jia's four-nation tour, which will also take him to Austria, Spain and Portugal.