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South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L), Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (C) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attend a joint press conference after a trilateral summit in Chengdu, southwestern China, on Dec. 24, 2019.

During a summit on Dec. 24, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to “continue close communication and cooperation for denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.” The three leaders also agreed about the importance of working together to speed up negotiations for a trilateral free trade agreement (FTA).

“We shared the view that peace on the Korean Peninsula corresponds to the joint interests of our three countries and agreed to work toward meaningful progress on denuclearization and peace through the quick resumption of dialogue between North Korea and the US,” said Moon during a joint press conference that followed the trilateral summit, held at the Century City New International Convention & Exhibition Center in Chengdu, in China’s Sichuan Province, on Tuesday morning.

“We reconfirmed that we share the goal of achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and lasting peace in Northeast Asia,” said Li Keqiang, adding, “We will dedicate our energy to resolving Korean Peninsula issues through political and diplomatic means, and we will realize long-term safety in the Korean Peninsula and the region. China is prepared to cooperate with South Korea, Japan, and a fourth country.” Li was presumably referring to the possibility of China cooperating or interceding with North Korea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attend a ceremony unveiling a monument celebrating 20 years of cooperation between their three countries at the Du Fu Thatched Cottage in Chengdu, in China’s Sichuan Province, on Dec. 24.

However, the remarks by Shinzo Abe differed in tone from that of the South Korean and Chinese leaders. “North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches are a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a severe threat to regional security. We reconfirmed that fully implementing Security Council resolutions and maintaining the momentum for the North Korea-US negotiations are the shared position of our three countries,” Abe said, while also emphasizing “a swift resolution to the kidnapping issue.”

On Tuesday, the three leaders also stressed the need to strengthen cooperation in the areas of the economy, society, and the environment and to stimulate cultural and person-to-person exchange in the region.

“We [South Korea, China, and Japan] also share a common economic destiny. I hope that trilateral economic cooperation will be further strengthened so that we can develop together in a system of collaboration and division of labor,” Moon said during his opening remarks before the summit. Moon’s emphasis on collaboration and the division of labor as being the foundation of economic development in the three countries can also be seen as an oblique criticism of Japan’s export controls on South Korea.

“All of us support free trade and economic investment,” asserted Li, arguing that “all parties should quickly sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.” The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) represents an attempt to create a massive free trade area consisting of 16 countries, including South Korea, China, Japan, India, and the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Last month, all the negotiating parties except for India reached an agreement about the RCEP text. Li also emphasized that China, South Korea, and Japan will accelerate their negotiations for an FTA of their own.

“I said that our plan is to push for the swift signing of the RCEP by the 16 negotiating countries and confirmed that we will be working toward a trilateral FTA involving Japan, China, and South Korea,” Abe said.

The three countries have held 16 rounds of negotiations aimed at such a trilateral FTA since 2013, but conflicting interests have prevented them from reaching an agreement. This summit is expected to speed up the negotiations. Since the sectors valued or protected by each country vary, including agriculture and services, they’re likely to agree on mutually acceptable areas for now and then to reach a more sweeping agreement in future negotiations.

After completing their summit, the three leaders adopted a joint vision for the next decade, which calls for strengthening free trade and multilateralism and striving to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

Photo caption: South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attend a ceremony unveiling a monument celebrating 20 years of cooperation between their three countries at the Du Fu Thatched Cottage in Chengdu, in China’s Sichuan Province, on Dec. 24.

By Park Min-hee and Hong Dae-sun, senior staff writers

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