On Nov. 24, 2000, Premier Zhu Rongji of the State Council attended a breakfast meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and ROK President Kim Dae-jung. During the meeting, the three leaders exchanged views on how to step up cooperation among China, Japan and ROK and between the above three countries and ASEAN and reached many consensus.

Zhu said that China, Japan and ROK weigh heavily in the politics and economy of East Asia and can play an active role in promoting cooperation in East Asia. He noted that the time is now ripe for expanding trilateral cooperation. He suggested that they should give more support to trilateral economic and trade cooperation and encourage the business communities of the three countries to build up links. The Japanese and ROK leaders seconded Zhu?s view. The three leaders expressed the willingness of furthering the economic and trade cooperation among their countries.

In terms of cooperation between the three countries and ASEAN, Zhu informed his Japanese and ROK counterparts on China?s suggestion about intensifying cooperation with ASEAN, adding that China will put forward concrete proposals at the current meeting on conducting mutually beneficial cooperation with ASEAN. He stressed that China?s upcoming accession to WTO will bring new opportunities for the cooperation between China and ASEAN and such cooperation will witness even greater development. He voiced the hope that all three countries can advance their cooperation with ASEAN.

Zhu also suggested that a trilateral information technology working group should be set up to study how to further cooperation among the three countries and how to support ASEAN?s development of information industry. He also suggested that 2002 should be designated as the year of contacts among Chinese, Japanese and ROK personnel and the three countries should step up cooperation in environmental protection.

The Japanese and ROK leaders agreed with China?s suggestion. The three parties agreed to launch cooperation among the economic research institutes of the three countries, which will provide policy advice to the governments. The ROK side suggested that cultural exchanges should be intensified among the capitals of the three countries. The Japanese side suggested that an exchange program for young officials of the three countries should be launched. The above two suggestions will be incorporated into the framework of 2002-Year of Contacts of the Personnel of the Three Countries. The three parties agreed that it is a good practice to use the opportunity of the annual East Asian Leadership Meeting to hold trilateral informal meetings. The forms of such meetings can be flexible and such meetings should focus on discussing cooperation among the three countries and that between the three countries and ASEAN in the fields of economy and trade, science and technology and environmental protection.