The Fifth Trilateral Summit Meeting among China, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan was held in Beijing from Sunday to Monday. The three nations released Sunday a Joint Declaration on the Enhancement of Trilateral Comprehensive Cooperative Partnership.
Following is the full text of the Declaration:
The Fifth Trilateral Summit Meeting among the People’ s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea and JapanJoint Declaration on the Enhancement of Trilateral Comprehensive Cooperative Partnership(13 May 2012 Beijing, China)
1. We, the leaders of the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, convened in Beijing, China on 13 May 2012, on the occasion of the 5th Trilateral Summit Meeting for an in-depth discussion on further enhancing the trilateral cooperation, promoting common development and making contributions to the stability, development and prosperity of the region and the world at large.
2. We welcomed the progress made since the inception of trilateral cooperation in 1999, especially since the First Trilateral Summit Meeting in 2008, which was held independently from other multilateral meetings for the first time. We reviewed with satisfaction the implementation of the Joint Statement for Tripartite Partnership (2008), the Joint Statement on the Tenth Anniversary of Trilateral Cooperation (2009) and the Trilateral Cooperation Vision 2020 (2010) and were pleased to witness the extensive benefits brought by the trilateral cooperation to the people of the three countries.
3. We fully recognized the fact that, due to the uncertainty of the world economy, deepening of the debt crisis in developed economies, ongoing unrest in West Asia and North Africa and continued momentum of growth in East Asia, further enhancement of the trilateral cooperation has contributed to steady economic growth in the three countries and accelerated economic integration in Northeast Asia. It will inject fresh vigor and vitality into East Asia cooperation, and serve peace, stability and prosperity in the region, thus facilitating economic recovery and growth in the world. We reiterated that we would view and approach the trilateral cooperation from a strategic point of view. We stressed that, on the basis of mutual respect, equality, common interests, openness and transparency, we would advance the trilateral relations in the direction of good-neighborliness, mutual trust, comprehensive cooperation, reciprocity, mutual benefit and common development.
4. With this in mind, we shared the view that we would further enhance the future-oriented comprehensive cooperative partnership among the three countries.
Enhancing Political Mutual Trust
5. We stressed that we would further increase high-level contacts, and provide continuous and strong political support for the relations and steady development of cooperation among the three countries.
6. We welcomed the positive outcome of the first Policy Dialogue on Asian Affairs held this year and the previous consultations on African Affairs, Latin American Affairs and Counter-Terrorism among our three countries. We expressed support for the three countries to continue to host, on a rotational basis, the above-mentioned consultations, actively explore ways to strengthen communication and coordination in more sectors and fields, and constantly promote mutual understanding and trust.
7. We took note of the extensive cooperation among the three countries in the fields of disaster relief, nuclear safety and joint study on earthquakes. We encouraged the three countries to advance cooperation in non-traditional security issues, such as piracy, energy security, cyber security, communicable diseases, terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
8. We also welcomed enhanced cooperation on disaster management and nuclear safety, in particular, since the Great East Japan Earthquake in pursuant to the Summit Declaration and attached documents issued in 2011. Japan expressed its gratitude for the assistance extended by the Governments and people of China and the ROK. China and the ROK expressed support for Japan’s initiative to host the “High-level International Conference on Large-Scale Natural Disasters” in July 2012 in the disaster-stricken Tohoku region.
9. Welcoming the recent agreement in principle on the maritime search and rescue agreement between China and Japan, we reaffirmed the importance of enhancing trilateral cooperation in search and rescue to ensure maritime safety.
10. We welcomed the establishment of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat in September 2011 in Seoul, the ROK, and expressed support for the Secretariat to provide high-quality service and play an active role in promoting trilateral cooperation.