President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan began an official visit to China on Wednesday with a visit to the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square, where he placed a wreath. A group of ministers and about 100 members of the business community accompanied Erdoğan along with Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci and Energy Minister Taner Yıldız.He then travelled to the National People's Congress for a private meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.The visit lasted for around an hour and was closed to media.Erdoğan later held a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, after which both presidents spoke to the media. "The future of China-Turkey relations is very bright and has great potential," Xi Jinping said in remarks before the media at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.Erdoğan responded that ties were advancing and becoming ever-more substantial."We believe this will help strengthen mutual political trust and the friendship between our two peoples," Erdoğan said.Following a two-hour meeting, the two presided over the signing of agreements on trade, investment and boosting dialogue at the vice prime-ministerial level.The three-day trip is Erdoğan's first to the country as president, and follows a previous visit in 2012 as prime minister.Since his first election win of 2003, diplomatic relations -- established between the two countries in 1971 -- have significantly improved, peaking over the last 10 years through several high-level bilateral visits.Erdoğan's state visit is expected to focus on Turkish trade links with the world's second-biggest economy. NATO member Turkey entered discussions in 2013 with the China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corporation (CPMIEC) for its first anti-missile system and chose the company as a preferred bidder with a contract worth $3.4 billion in 2013. The agreement, however, is not signed yet between the two parties and the future of the deal is a matter of debate.While the sides enjoy outwardly friendly relations, Turkish public sentiment has been inflamed by reports that members of the Uighur minority native to China's northwest have been restricted in practicing their Islamic faith, particularly during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in mid-July. Turks and Uighurs share close linguistic, cultural and religious ties.Xi Jinping raised China's national security concerns at his meeting with Erdoğan amid a recent spike in tensions over the treatment of on Uighurs in the northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, also known as East Turkestan.Xi told Erdoğan at their meeting in the Great Hall of the People that the East Turkestan separatist question is "a national security and social stability issue that relates to China's core interest," China's state news agency Xinhua said.Erdoğan stressed to Xi that the Xinjiang autonomous region was an inseparable part of China and that Turkey would never support any activity detrimental to Chinese sovereignty or territorial integrity on Turkish soil, the Xinhua news agency reported.The Chinese side "hoped Turkey would take effective measures, to oppose and prevent 'East Turkestan' forces engaging in anti-China separatist activities and ensure the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations," Xinhua reported.Erdoğan had previously said some news published in the Turkish media about Chinese government oppression of Uighurs is either exaggerated or fabricated. He spoke of the outrage leading to incidents around Turkey caused by the reporting of China's repressive policies on Uighurs, and said that it is exaggerated by false news stories and posts on social media. Erdoğan said: "I want to point out that many of those pictures are exaggerated and false. I also find it noteworthy that these provocations came just before my official trip to China on June 28. We have many cognates all over the world. Whatever problems they face concern us as well."More than 100 members of the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) from different business fields, such as energy, finance, construction, mining, logistics, defense, textile, chemistry and electronics, accompanied President Erdoğan during his China visit. The economy-focused visit will make a huge contribution to Turkey's expansion in the region. In this context, the Turkey-China Business Forum will be held on July 30 in Beijing with the attendance of President Erdoğan, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci and Chinese Trade Minister Gao Hucheng. Additionally, nearly 400 businessmen from the Turkish and Chinese private sector will participate in the forum.Special free-trade zone in Turkey for Chinese companiesTurkey suggests a special free-trade zone that will enable Chinese firms to carry out all kinds of trade and production in Turkey, said Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci during the bilateral talks he held with Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng in Beijing on Wednesday.Turkey wants to initiate a process to remove all the obstacles to trade between Turkey and China, stated Zeybekci, adding that both countries want to improve their bilateral relations based on a win-win principle.Underlining Turkey's and China's objective of boosting trade relations with joint activities, Zeybekci said that they launched work to form a new Chinese Action Plan to be implemented between 2015 and 2018. In reference to the existing trade relations between the two countries, Zeybekci also said that Turkey wants to improve its exports to China to the level of China's exports to Turkey.The minister emphasized that Turkey and China can develop cooperation in a number of fields by making use of Turkey's advantageous position in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Balkans and Europe. Referring to the fact that the number of Turkish contracting companies ranks second after Chinese ones in the world, Zeybekci underscored that this situation does not require the two countries to compete in this field, but it is rather an indicator showing that Turkey and China can form major cooperations in the Middle East, Turkic Republics, Russia and the Balkans."As Turkey, we know that we will win not by competing with China, but forming cooperation with it," said Zeybekci, adding that both countries' relevant ministries will form high-level committees that will monitor the steps toward boosting relations.Trade volume between Turkey and China exceeded $1 billion in 2000 and it has followed a growing trend ever since. However, the balance has always been to the benefit of China. Turkey's exports to China were almost $2.9 billion in 2014, while imports were $24.9 billion. According to Zeybekci, the quickest way of closing the foreign trade deficit between the two countries is Chinese firms' investments in Turkey. He invited Chinese firms to establish logistics centers in Turkey and to invest in food and energy sectors in the country. "We greatly support the Silk Road project, to which China attaches great importance," the minister said, stressing that Turkey is one of the major junction points of this project.Zeybekci further said the long and tiring quarantine that Turkey applies on its food exports to China constitutes an obstacle and stressed that the acceleration of this process is important for Turkey's exports to China.The minister also expressed that Turkey is open to cooperation with China in the field of nuclear energy as well. Turkey will act in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding the subvention inquiry of seamless steel pipes and safe guard measures of porcelains and cell phones. The process will be completely transparent and open to Chinese authorities, he added. Zeybekci invited Hucheng to hold a Turkey-China economic summit to bring together all sectors in Istanbul before the G20 summit.Hucheng said that trade relations between the two countries are continuing in a positive trend and the two economies can affectively complement each other. Underscoring that China attaches importance to the friendship and cooperation with Turkey, he said Turkey has a strategic position for China.According to Hucheng, bilateral trade volume broke a historic record in 2014 and experienced a rapid growth in the first half of 2015. Pointing to the fact that China's investments and contracting projects in Turkey have increased, Hucheng said they encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in Turkey.Touching on the high potential of cooperation between the two countries, Hucheng said that the disparity experienced in the commercial area can be resolved if Turkey increases its exports to China and Chinese companies further invest in Turkey. The establishment of a free trade zone for China in Turkey can be an effective solution for this, he said, continuing that the two countries can strengthen cooperation in the tourism field as well."We are ready to develop cooperation on big projects in Turkey. For instance, we can form cooperation on the Edirne-Kars High-Speed Rail Line and nuclear power plants," he concluded.President Erdoğan is also due to visit Indonesia as part of a four-day Asian trip.