The leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea have gathered again after more than four years. Beijing scholars believe that trilateral economic and trade cooperation will usher in new opportunities as a result.
The leaders of South Korea and Japan also expressed their hope that the three countries can use this leadership meeting as a new starting point to restart negotiations on the South Korea Japan China Free Trade Agreement and jointly promote regional cooperation in East Asia.
Previously, the three sides of China, Japan, and South Korea had reached a consensus on building a comprehensive, high-level, mutually beneficial, and self valuable China Japan South Korea free trade agreement, and unanimously agreed to further enhance the level and rule standards of goods trade, service trade, and investment liberalization on the basis of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), and create a "RCEP+" free trade agreement.
Ni Yueju, a researcher at the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with China News Agency that due to the varying levels of economic development among its members, RCEP has lowered its rules and standards compared to some international high standard economic and trade agreements, taking into account the interests of all parties. Therefore, although the implementation of RCEP has established a free trade partnership between China, Japan, and South Korea, it is still necessary to advance the negotiation of the China Japan South Korea free trade agreement.
In Ni Yueju's view, the resumption of free trade agreement negotiations between China, Japan, and South Korea is the trend. In recent years, various factors such as the epidemic have had an impact on the economies of China, Japan, and South Korea. If the negotiation of the agreement can be resumed and completed as soon as possible, the economic and trade growth benefits of the three countries will be considerable.
Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce of China, told China News Agency that the industrial and supply chains of China, Japan and South Korea have formed a stable connection. If this favorable condition can be utilized to reach a higher level of openness in the free trade agreement as soon as possible, it will be conducive to enhancing the stability of the trilateral economic development and better carrying out innovation cooperation.
Analysts believe that at a time when the global economic recovery is facing various risks and variables, conflicts and competition are increasing, the fact that leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea can once again gather to discuss economic and trade cooperation is itself a positive signal.
Lv Chao, Dean of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University, said that China, Japan, and South Korea are gradually realizing that a "cold wave" in their relationship is not beneficial to all three parties. Especially in the economic field, if Japan and South Korea lose China, it is equivalent to giving up an unimaginable huge market.
A survey conducted by the China Japan Chamber of Commerce last year showed that over 90% of Japanese companies stated that they would maintain or increase their investment in China. The Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce, Hideo Onodera, said that Japanese companies are now widely rooted in the Chinese economy and deeply rooted in the Chinese market.
According to Chinese statistics, South Korea is China's fourth largest trading partner. In the first four months of this year, the total trade value between China and South Korea was 728.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%.
Thoroughly noting that as the global industrial chain accelerates its adjustment and restructuring, strengthening economic and trade cooperation between China, Japan, and South Korea is the aspiration of the tripartite business community and will also provide support for the economic development of other countries in the region. However, it still faces many "noise". To truly put cooperation back on track, the three "immovable neighbors" still need to maintain a correct understanding of each other and not let differences hinder the overall cooperation. (Lai Xin She)