The 8th China-Japan-ROK leaders’ meeting mapped out a direction and set the tone for the future trilateral cooperation with strategic and visionary planning, said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Wednesday.

At a routine news briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang elaborated on the consensus reached during the meeting in three aspects.

(Photo: AFP)

First, the three countries agreed to deepen cooperation and enhance political trust, seeing each other as development opportunities and upholding a right attitude toward history and the future from a strategic and long-term perspective. Deeper cooperation will be enhanced in environment, climate change, health, aging population, innovation, sports and youth, making the “cake” of common interests bigger. The three sides will also strengthen the Trilateral + X Cooperation, making a common prosperity with more countries come true.

Second, the three sides agreed to safeguard multilateralism and free trade with an open-minded and inclusive spirit. They will promote the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and speed up the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiation to facilitate regional economic integration.

Third, China, Japan and ROK as leading countries highly responsible for the peace and stability in Asia, agreed to enhance coordination in regional and global issues. Focused on the East Asia and Asia Pacific regions, the three countries are ready to co-lead the regional cooperation and build a cooperation framework for East Asia which accommodates the needs of regional countries to further enhance regional and global peace, stability and prosperity.

During the meeting held in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Tuesday, the leaders of the three sides had in-depth exchanges of views on the trilateral cooperation, regional situation and global issues. They spoke highly of the fruitful results achieved in the past 20 years of trilateral cooperation as well as the contributions to the peace and development in Northeast Asia, spokesperson Geng introduced.

At a joint press briefing on Tuesday with ROK President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang highly appraised the meeting in the outcome documents released, including the Trilateral Cooperation Vision for the Next Decade and the Trilateral + X Cooperation Early Harvest Projects.

The three leaders attended a series of commemorative activities marking the 20th anniversary of the trilateral cooperation yesterday at the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in Chengdu. They also planted an Osmanthus tree together there, Geng said, adding that as a small tree can grow tall and luxuriant in 10 years, the trilateral cooperation will bear more fruits over a 30-years development and make greater contributions to the prosperity and stability of the region and the world.