Trilateral Cooperation Vision for the Next Decade

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of China-ROK-Japan Cooperation, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang, President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister of Japan Abe Shinzo held the Eighth Trilateral Summit on 24 December 2019, in Chengdu, China, to review the course of trilateral cooperation and look ahead to a brighter future.

We recalled that two decades ago, visionary leaders of China, the ROK and Japan launched the trilateral cooperation in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. Over the past 20 years, the three countries have constantly enhanced mutual trust, deepened cooperation, and pursued common development. We have established 21 ministerial meetings and more than 70 dialogue mechanisms, which have combined to serve as a main platform for discussions on greater cooperation among the three countries. We have also established the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat in 2011 with the aim to further promote trilateral cooperation. Trade volume among the three countries increased from US$130 billion in 1999 to more than US$720 billion in 2018. The combined GDP of the three countries as a percentage of the global total rose from 17% to 24%. Trilateral cooperation has played an important role in promoting regional and global economic growth as well as driving regional integration process.

We shared the view that the next decade will witness profound changes in the international community, the emergence of new global growth drivers and rapid advance of the scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. The interests and future of all countries are more intertwined than ever before. It is increasingly important for us, as important countries responsible for peace and stability in Asia, to enhance trilateral cooperation and work together with other countries to make active and due contributions to a wide range of issues facing the region and the international community. Stronger trilateral cooperation serves the common interests of our countries and peoples, and will contribute significantly to the peace and development of the region and world. We reaffirmed that sound bilateral ties are an important foundation for the trilateral cooperation, and that the deepening of trilateral cooperation, in turn, contributes to each bilateral relationship. Reaffirming that the three countries share everlasting history and infinite future, we will continue to cooperate according to the common recognition reached at the 2018 Trilateral Summit. We should plan the trilateral cooperation from a long-term and strategic perspective and work to develop a future-oriented cooperation model featuring peace, friendship and mutual benefit to make the trilateral cooperation a platform for peace, stability and regional cooperation and an important force for world development and prosperity. We will keep our joint efforts to further enhance regional dialogue and trust, including holding academic discussions under framework of Trilateral Cooperation with participations from other relevant partners.

With this in mind, we jointly decided to:

I. Work together to improve trilateral cooperation. We concur on the significance of holding the Trilateral Summit and the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting on a regular basis to promote the healthy and stable development of trilateral cooperation. We will make joint efforts to create positive atmosphere for regularizing those meetings. We acknowledge the achievements made by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) and support the continuous capacity-building of the TCS. We share the view that the Trilateral Cooperation Fund can provide support for projects aiming to promote trilateral cooperation.

II. Maintain durable peace and security. We will enhance communication on strategic issues and political mutual trust, in the spirit of mutual respect, manage differences properly and develop long-term relations of peace and friendship. We are committed to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We reaffirm that maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as in Northeast Asia is our common interest and responsibility. In this regard, we recall the Joint Statement on the '2018 Inter-Korean Summit' by the Leaders of Japan, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea. Endeavoring to achieve peace, security and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, we stress that it is only the international cooperation including dialogue and diplomacy on and the comprehensive resolution of concerns of the parties, in accordance with relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions, that can achieve the complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. The leaders of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea hope that the abductions issue between Japan and the DPRK will be resolved through dialogue as soon as possible.