Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (from right to left) pose for a group photo at the sixth China-Japan-South Korea leaders’ meeting in Seoul on November 1 (XINHUA)

After over three years of suspension, the leaders' meeting of China, Japan and South Korea finally resumed, signaling the continuation of cooperation among the three major countries in Northeast Asia. In a joint declaration issued after the sixth trilateral summit meeting held in Seoul on November 1, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun Hye pledged to make efforts for peace and cooperation in the region.

The trilateral cooperation started in 1999 with the establishment of the Association of Southeastern Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and South Korea Summit. Since 2008, the three-party leaders' meeting has been held independently from ASEAN+3. In 2011, the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) was established for further institutionalizing of the trilateral meeting.

The fifth trilateral summit was last hosted by Beijing in 2012. The summit was since suspended as relations between China and Japan and those between South Korea and Japan strained.

Yang Bojiang, deputy head of the Institute of Japan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The Japanese Government should be held responsible for the interruption of the meeting."

The right-leaning Japanese Government has adopted many hardline policies toward China and South Korea over territorial disputes and historical issues since 2012, which led to tensions in China-Japan and South Korea-Japan relations, Yang said.

In September 2012, Japan announced the so-called "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea that China claims as its own territory. Japan's unilateral action triggered strong protest from China. Meanwhile, Japan had intensified rows with South Korea on the sovereignty of Dokdo Island (the Japanese call it Takeshima), though Dokdo is controlled by South Korea.

Apart from territorial disputes, the Japanese Government's attitude toward historical issues continues to cause frustration on the part of China and South Korea. Japanese leaders are reluctant to recognize Japan's wartime atrocities and historic colonial occupation. In particular, the Japanese Government refuses to acknowledge the Nanjing Massacre and the Japanese army's practice of subjugating sex slaves among Chinese and Korean women. Its refusal to acknowledge its crimes and the pain they have caused continue to draw sharp criticism from Chinese and South Korean government leaders and the public.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (center) visits the Gyeonggi Center for a Creative Economy and Innovation in South Korea on November 2 (XINHUA)

Positive developments

According to Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of Japan studies at China Foreign Affairs University, the trilateral relations of China, Japan and South Korea have been improving gradually since the 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting held in Beijing last November.

Several days prior to the APEC meeting, China and Japan reached a four-point consensus on dealing with sensitive issues and improving bilateral relations. In doing so, Sino-Japanese relations began moving toward détente.

At the same time, South Korea and Japan have engaged in continuous dialogue around a number of issues. The South Korean president expressed her willingness to resume the trilateral summit on the ASEAN+3 meeting last November.

"The resumption of the trilateral meeting signifies that the cooperation among the three countries is back to normal," Zhou concluded.

During the summit, the three leaders reached broad consensus on specific agenda items. They agreed to work together on enhancing understanding, building trust and expanding cooperation on trade and cultural exchange as well as promoting sustainable development. The leaders also reaffirmed that the trilateral summit meeting should be held annually moving forward.

Ruan Zongze, Vice President of China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), told Xinhua News Agency that the resumption of the meeting doesn't mean all issues between the nations can be solved. But it shows that the parties are willing to improve their ties and control disputes.

"The leaders' meeting created a sound atmosphere of cooperation, which will encourage the three governments to continue their efforts of improving ties and maintaining regional peace and stability," Ruan said

Economic interests align

The three governments' joint declaration as a result of the recent meeting vowed to encourage over 50 intergovernmental consultative mechanisms, including around 20 ministerial-level talks.

Tang Qifang, researcher of CIIS told the Hong Kong-based newspaper Ta Kung Pao  that cooperation among the three countries is not only vital to regional peace and development in East Asia, but is also of great significance to the economic recovery of Asia and the world.

The three countries have established a total of 50 multi-level intergovernmental cooperation mechanisms since 1999. The most remarkable outcome of their cooperation is on economic ties, Tang noted.

China and Japan are respectively the second and third largest economies in the world. According to the World Bank, South Korea ranks 14th or 15th in terms of GDP in the world. The GDP of the three countries totaled over $1.6 trillion, accounting for one fifth of the world's total.

Data from China's Ministry of Commerce show that trade volume among the three countries has reached near $700 billion in 2014, accounting for over 20 percent of global trade. China has become the largest trading partner for both Japan and South Korea in recent years.

"Therefore, the China-Japan-South Korea cooperation is very important to regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific," remarked Jiang Ruiping of China Foreign Affairs University.

The three countries have also been making steps toward economic integration in East Asia. The investment agreement of China, Japan and South Korea went into effect in 2014. As a result of the concerted efforts of governments, businesses and academics in the three countries, the research work on the feasibility of free trade agreement (FTA) was completed in 2011, with the first round of FTA talks held in Seoul in 2013.

In 2011, ASEAN proposed to build a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in East Asia. The multilateral free trade pact involves China, Japan, South Korea and all 10 ASEAN member states as well as India, Australia and New Zealand. Supported by all participating members, the RCEP talks kicked off in 2012.

The RCEP talks mark the significant progress of regional economic integration and lay the foundation to build a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) in the future. At the Seoul summit, the three leaders agreed to try to speed up negotiations and reach agreements on both the China-Japan-South Korea free trade area and the RCEP.

Three-legged stool

However, the trilateral economic cooperation has been affected by bilateral tensions in recent years, with politics often getting in the way of progress. Case in point: China-Japan economic cooperation has stagnated as the political relations of the two countries dropped to a record low in the last three years.

In contrast, China and South Korea have embraced efforts to strengthen their economic ties. On June 1, China and South Korea inked a free trade agreement after three years of talks. The bilateral annual trade volume is expected to double 2014's numbers within the next five years.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, China's trade with South Korea reached $235.4 billion in 2014. Today China is South Korea's largest trading partner, export market and overseas investment destination. South Korea is China's third largest trading partner.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's recent visit to South Korea following the trilateral summit will further promote China-South Korea cooperation on technological innovation, manufacturing and jointly developing a third-party market. The rapid development of China-South Korea relations in recent years mainly benefits from sound political ties, Jiang said.

The turns and twists of China-Japan-South Korea cooperation have shown that good political and close economic ties are two wheels that must rotate in tandem, said Tang.

Many people once believed that by achieving progress under trilateral economic cooperation framework, China and Japan, as well as South Korea and Japan could solve problems in their bilateral relations. They were not worried about the weird phenomenon that China and Japan maintained warm economic ties but their political relations were frozen.

Eventually, however, deteriorated political relations extended to the economic sector as tensions intensified. Leaders' meeting and ministerial dialogues were unable to continue. Although economic interdependency among China, Japan and South Korea is a natural drive for their cooperation, it could not sustain high levels at the same time that their diplomatic relations are ice cold, Tang believes.

The data released by China's Ministry of Commerce this January show that Japan's direct investment in China had dropped an unprecedented 38.8 percent to $4.33 billion in 2014.

China, Japan and South Korea are neighboring countries with highly dependent needs of trade and people-to-people exchanges. But in the bilateral relations of China-Japan and Japan-South Korea, there are unsolved territorial disputes. Both China and South Korea have not reached reconciliation with Japan over historical issues.

According to Tang, only with a strong and honest political will to cooperate with each other can the three countries maintain mutually beneficial relationships, economic and otherwise. The approach of dividing economic cooperation from political confrontation can lead to nowhere but a dead end.

Therefore, the three countries should make efforts to enhance mutual trust and cherish current progress of cooperation, Tang said.

"Without a stable political basis, the trilateral cooperation can't go well," Yang agreed.

As long as Japan faces up to history and properly handles historical and other sensitive issues, the trilateral cooperation will continue to develop smoothly in the future, added Yang.

Copyedited by Mara Lee Durell

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