Finance minister Choo Kyung-ho has reaffirmed that the South Korean government has no intention of “decoupling” from China.

Choo revealed the stance during a full session of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee on Monday as he stressed that China is South Korea’s number one trading partner and the most important partner in economic cooperation.

The minister said efforts to boost ties with the U.S. must not be interpreted as moves to neglect China.

Choo said that after attending a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations last week, he met with China’s ambassador to Seoul and requested that Beijing launch preparations to arrange a South Korea-China finance ministers’ meeting.

The minister noted that South Korea’s trade surplus with China has seen a decline of between 15 and 20 U.S. billion dollars during the past two years after topping 60 billion U.S. dollars in 2013.