Vice-President Xi Jinping yesterday called for talks with Seoul on a free trade deal that, if implemented, would double two-way trade by 2013.

If a pact is reached, it could leave the region's biggest economy, Japan, out in the cold. But the increasingly overlapping interests for economies of China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) make reaching a deal difficult.

"Reaching a free trade deal between China and South Korea (ROK) meets the interests of both countries," Xi was quoted as saying in a meeting with ROK President Lee Myung-bak.