News Analysis: Resumption of China-Japan-South Korea summitry pivotal for fostering East Asia community

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will be in Malaysia on Nov. 20-23 and attend the 18th ASEAN-China, Japan and South Korea (10+3) leaders' meeting in Kuala Lumpur, an opportunity which could further advance the trilateral cooperation mechanism between China, Japan and South Korea so as to foster an East Asia economic community.

Li will "speed up negotiation on a trilateral FTA and the RCEP to build up the East Asia economic community," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a press briefing Tuesday.

The resumption of the China-Japan-South Korea trilateral leaders' meeting and the launch of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework one week before are also positive, analysts said.

The trilateral cooperation mechanism consisting of China, Japan and South Korea was restored on Nov. 1 with the resumption of the leaders' meeting after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus due to heightened regional tensions.

The sixth trilateral summit in Seoul came as relations between Japan and the two neighbors have started thawing. South Korea, the rotating host of the sixth gathering, organized it.

In a joint declaration issued after the meeting, the three countries reaffirmed their commitment to hold the trilateral meeting on a regular basis.

The China-Japan-South Korea summit had taken place annually from 2008 to 2012 before it bogged down due to Japanese provocations on historical and territorial issues that angered both China and South Korea.

China, Japan and South Korea are important players in the Asian economy. Their GDP totaled 70 percent of Asia's and 20 percent of the world's. Trade volume among the three countries in 2013 reached 681.4 billion U.S. dollars, exceeding China's trade volume with the European Union or the United States.

A trilateral free trade agreement (FTA) has been under negotiation since 2012. During the summit in early November, the three economies agreed to make efforts to accelerate the trilateral FTA negotiation to make it "comprehensive, high-level and mutually beneficial," according to the joint declaration.

In the joint declaration, the three sides also agreed to expand people-to-people exchanges so as to dispel negative national public sentiment among the three Northeast Asian neighbors.

Besides, they agreed to enhance cooperation in science and innovation, energy, logistics, employment, food safety and intellectual property rights, it said.

The three nations also pledged to promote sustainable development and agreed to deepen cooperation on tackling emerging infectious diseases, air pollution and climate change.

On regional and international affairs, they decided to join hands on various issues ranging from the Korean Peninsula to East Asia economic integration, according to the declaration.

While interpreting the meeting as a sign of thawing ties, experts in the region believe the resumption of the summit will help improve security and cooperation in Northeast Asia and also push forward free trade talks between the three countries.

But they also noted that it is not enough for the trilateral mechanism to simply return to the point where it was three years ago.

"If (Shinzo) Abe continues to take disruptive action on historical issues and territorial disputes, then Sino-Japanese relations and the South Korea-Japan relations will once again be put to the test," said Liu Jiangyong, vice dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University.

Therefore, the Japanese government should rethink its policy toward China and South Korea and its attitude toward historical issues, so that the overall political, economic and trade relations between the three nations will return to a balanced and healthy track.

Japan's historical baggage and Abe's historical view have prevented economic integration in Northeast Asia as well as attempts by China, Japan and South Korea to establish trust in the political and security fields, and build a more constructive and stable relationship, said Park Cheol-hee, an expert at Seoul National University.

"Therefore, there is an urgent need for Japan to learn the lessons of history, to correct its attitude toward history, to make important progress in regional issues," he said. Endi