China, Japan, S. Korea eye enhanced trust, understanding among peoples

China, Japan, and South Korea agreed on Sunday to expand people-to-people exchanges so as to dispel negative national public sentiment among the three Northeast Asian neighbors, according to a joint declaration released after a trilateral summit.

The declaration noted that exchanges and cooperation among the peoples laid an important foundation for increasing understanding among the three countries.

According to the declaration, the three countries proposed to promote student exchanges and establish a trilateral education ministers' meeting, considering the important role education plays in increasing understanding and common development.

They also decided to enhance exchanges and cooperation among local governments, and encourage sister-city exchanges in the region.

Highlighting the importance of tourism exchanges, the three nations vowed to increase personnel exchanges among the three countries to 30 million until 2020.

In view of the geographical proximity, frequent personnel exchanges and large trade volume, the three countries will jointly address the challenges of transnational crime to enhance social stability, the declaration said.

The three countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas including sports, cultural and arts education, and co-production and copyright protection.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye attended the summit, resumed after a three-and-a-half year hiatus. Endi