The establishment of a free trade zone between China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) would definitely help the regional economy. Yet talks surrounding the free trade agreement (FTA) face many uncertainties.
"China is willing to work with other countries to optimize trade structure and cooperate in fields like energy and resources, high-end manufacturing, finance, tourism and agriculture," Gao said.
Countries in the region should consolidate consensus and promote the establishment and perfection of a cooperative mechanism through such platform as the Summit Forum on Northeast Asian Cooperation, he added.
n 2012, the three countries' combined gross domestic product totalled 14.3 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for about 20 percent of the world's total and 70 percent of Asia's total. The economic scale of the three countries is only behind European Union and North America.
Meanwhile, the combined import and export volume totalled 5.4 trillion dollars, or 35 percent of the world total.
Once the free trade zone is in place, the super-large market with 1.5 billion people will help economic development.
However, experts warn that the talks over the FTA face political, economic and social obstacles.
Zhang Yushan, a researcher with the Jilin Academy of Social Sciences, said while China has advantages in agriculture and the textiles industry, Japan and ROK have advantages in traditional industries as well as in service sector.
"The three parties must resolve their existing differences, give consideration to each other's sensitive industries, and expand mutual openness on the above basis," Zhang said.
Analysts say "the lack of political trust is the biggest obstacle to the free trade zone".
Source: Xinhua
