On the afternoon of November 1 local time, the sixth trilateral leaders' meeting of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) was held in Seoul. Premier Li Keqiang, President Park Geun-hye of the ROK and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan attended the meeting. Park Geun-hye chaired the meeting. The three leaders reviewed and looked ahead to China-Japan-ROK cooperation and exchanged views on regional and international issues.

Li Keqiang expressed that linked by land and sea, China, Japan and the ROK are members of the East Asian cultural circle as well as three major economies in East Asia, exerting important influence on regional and global economic growth. It is a strong aspiration of the three countries to further non-governmental exchanges and practical cooperation and the idea of win-win cooperation is still a mainstream. The resumption of the mechanism of trilateral leaders' meeting of China, Japan and the ROK after a three-year suspension is in itself hard-won. Under the background of sluggish global economic recovery, downward pressure facing emerging economies and Asian economic prospect becoming a world focus, the three countries should join hands pushing structural reform, boosting innovation-driven economy, expanding mutual opening-up and upgrading and developing their own economy by deepening cooperation thus promote stable economic growth in East Asia and Asia at large.

Li Keqiang put forward specific proposals on China-Japan-ROK cooperation:

First, enhance political mutual trust and safeguard regional peace and stability. Reaching consensus on historical and other major issues is the precondition for mutual trust. China, Japan and the ROK should properly handle history-related issues in the spirit of reviewing the past and looking into the future. They should also shoulder important responsibility of maintaining regional peace and stability, simultaneously push forward the two wheels of political security and economic development, forge a secure environment for development through dialogues and cooperation and thus create a sound environment for realizing regional security and development. All parties should double cherish the resumption of the meeting and the results achieved from it and make sure that the progress will not be gained and lost in a repeated fashion.

Second, give full play to respective comparative advantages and carry out international production capacity cooperation. With different development levels, the three countries have complementary economic structures and thus enjoy huge cooperation potential. China is willing to connect its advantages of complete industrial system, integrated equipment manufacturing as well as high capability and high cost performance in construction with high-end technologies owned by the ROK and Japan, and based on development needs of the neighboring countries, together conduct international production capacity cooperation with a focus on infrastructure construction, engineering machinery, construction materials, electric power and other areas to create new brand for trilateral cooperation and bring new impetus to their respective development, regional economic growth and global economic recovery.

Third, facilitate East Asian economic integration and safeguard regional financial stability. Trilateral cooperation should play a ballast role in regional economic growth and financial stability. We should well implement the China-Japan-ROK investment agreement and speed up China-Japan-ROK free trade area negotiations to keep pushing trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. The China-ROK free trade agreement should be put into effect as early as possible. We should advance fiscal and financial cooperation within the frameworks such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus China, Japan and ROK, strengthen communication and coordination on financial and monetary macro-policies, push forward Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization and avoid re-occurring of systematic financial risks in Asia.

Fourth, together promote structural reform and facilitate innovation cooperation. China is implementing the innovation-driven development strategy and pushing mass entrepreneurship and innovation, the ROK is advancing creative economic policies and Japan is carrying out the policy of "basing the country on science and technology". The three countries should boost exchanges and connection and discuss cooperation including enhancing joint research and development in mobile internet, cloud computing, smart city, big data and other fields.

Fifth, beef up cooperation on sustainable development and better benefit peoples. We should push for the establishment of a China-Japan-ROK cooperation network on environmental pollution prevention and control technologies, boost construction of relevant recycling industry economic zones and demonstration bases, constantly intensify relevant sub-regional cooperation and regional economic cooperation and jointly and earnestly implement the cooperation initiative on poverty alleviation in East Asia to promote common development of Asia.

Sixth, step up social and people-to-people and cultural exchanges and the sense of East Asian community. With similar cultures and traditions, the three countries should further expand personnel exchanges, expand cooperation on Olympic economy and enhance people-to-people friendship.

Li Keqiang stressed to earnestly leverage the important platform role of the China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat and further increase input in it, and actively explore the establishment of the China-Japan-ROK cooperation foundation to bring new impetus to deepening cooperation.

When talking about the situation in Northeast Asia, Li Keqiang pointed out that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the UN and the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War. It is in the common interests of all regional countries to maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia. China has always contributed to peace and stability in East Asia. We unswervingly pursue the peaceful development path, stick to dialogues and negotiations, uphold reconciliation and cooperation and will jointly dedicate to long-lasting stability and security in Northeast Asia. Peace is the right path for mankind, and only by looking squarely at history can we face the future. It is hoped that Japan will adhere to the peaceful development direction in line with the wishes of its people and common voice of other Asian countries.

Park Geun-hye expressed that the resumption of the trilateral leaders' meeting of the ROK, China and Japan is of important significance. The three countries enhancing cooperation is not only in line with the interests of their peoples but also conducive to stability and prosperity in Northeast Asia. The three countries should stick to the correct direction of looking squarely at history and facing the future, strengthen consensus on trilateral cooperation and jointly create a new era for peace and security in Northeast Asia; together tackle global economic challenges, boost practical cooperation, enhance innovative economic system and explore new growth points on economic cooperation; promote balanced development between economy and society, earnestly implement the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and facilitate environmental protection cooperation; expand personnel exchanges especially exchanges between youths, enhance cooperation on education and Olympic economy and step up friendly affection between their peoples; keep communication and coordination on major international issues and jointly combat terrorism. Trilateral cooperation serves as an important regional cooperation mechanism, therefore, we should beef up institutional construction of trilateral cooperation.

Shinzo Abe welcomed resumption of the mechanism of the trilateral leaders' meeting and expressed that the Japanese side adheres to the position of previous cabinets on historical issues and persists in peaceful development. Trilateral cooperation enjoys broad areas and is constantly making progress and trilateral personnel exchanges are very frequent and close. Trilateral cooperation shoulders important responsibility and plays an important role in pushing regional peace and prosperity. The three countries should enhance dialogue and cooperation, expand cooperation range, deepen cooperation connotation and boost coordination on disaster prevention and reduction, environmental protection, youth exchanges, Olympic economy and other areas, maintain policy consultation in international affairs and thus constantly inject new impetus into their cooperation. The construction of the free trade area among the three countries is of important significance to East Asian cooperation and it is hoped that trilateral economic and trade cooperation relations will be further enhanced and that the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat will play an active role.

After the meeting, the three countries issued the Joint Declaration on Peace and Cooperation in Northeast Asia.