Japan, China, S. Korea to kick off FTA talks
Mainichi Japan | January 9, 2012
Japan, China, S. Korea to kick off FTA talks
BEIJING (Kyodo) — Japan, China and South Korea are expected to start negotiations for a trilateral free trade agreement in the first half of this year, possibly in May, a Chinese newspaper reported Monday.
"If there is no strong opposition from inside the Republic of Korea, talks on the China-Japan-ROK FTA will be officially launched during the first half of this year, in May at the earliest," China Daily, in a front-page article, quoted a source at the Commerce Ministry as saying.
The paper suggests leaders of the three countries are likely to reach agreement during a trilateral summit slated for this spring in China.
The unidentified source was quoted as saying negotiations for a bilateral FTA between China and South Korea "will probably start in the first half of this year."
At a regional summit in November in Indonesia, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proposed initiating trilateral FTA negotiations in 2012.
"China is willing to promote the program and Japan is okay about it, but the problem is there is opposition from inside the ROK," the source said. "The ROK seems to be more interested in initiating China-ROK FTA talks."
The paper quoted Chinese experts as saying the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a U.S.-led trans-Pacific free trade agreement, will stimulate talks for the envisaged Tokyo-Beijing-Seoul FTA.
"Through the TPP, the U.S. expects to take a dominant position in the integration of economies of the Asia-Pacific region and expand its exports to the region," Yu Miaojie, a professor at the National School of Development at Peking University in Beijing, was quoted as saying.
"But China cannot just wait and see," Yu said. "And it should actively promote the progress of the FTA talks."
