The inaugural meeting of China, Japan, and South Korea on anti-monopoly was held in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, on March 20 and 21.

Hosted by China's State Administration for Market Regulation, the China-Japan-ROK Regular Meeting on Anti-Monopoly was joined by officials and representatives from the Japan Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Fair Trade Commission. 

The trilateral regular meeting seeks to further deepen international cooperation on anti-monopoly. Over the two days of the event, participants were engaged in in-depth discussions on such hot topics as antitrust law enforcement, coordination between competition policies and industrial policies, as well as antitrust regulations in key and emerging fields.

With the rapid economic development of the Asia-Pacific region, fair competition mechanisms are becoming paramount as a growing number of businesses are expanding their presence overseas.

The meeting concluded with the consensus that it is necessary to further deepen exchanges and cooperation in the anti-monopoly field, consolidate the regular exchange mechanisms among China, Japan, and South Korea, share experience in fair competition governance, and foster a market environment characterized by fair competition to facilitate the healthy development of multilateral and bilateral economic and trade relations.

Offering one of the best business environments in China, Zhejiang has implemented many measures, such as the issuance of regulations, pertaining to anti-monopoly and fair competition in recent years.

The province will seize the opportunity presented by this meeting, take proactive steps to align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and address emerging challenges in anti-monopoly practices across artificial intelligence, the digital economy, and intellectual property rights among others, said Xie Xiaoyun, head of the Zhejiang Administration for Market Regulation.