On December 13, 2008, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council, Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak attended the tripartite meeting in Fukuoka, Japan. Taro Aso chaired the meeting. The leaders of three nations spoke highly of the progress of trilateral cooperation, confirmed the direction of future cooperation, raised new cooperation initiatives and exchanged opinions and reached important consensus on coping with the international financial crisis as well as regional and international issues of common concern.

Addressing the meeting, Wen said that the trilateral partnership has made productive achievements after 9 years of development. The three countries enjoy ever increasing mutual political trust, better cooperation mechanisms and greater pragmatic cooperation in regional and international affairs. China is confident of the trilateral cooperation which has benefited the people of the three countries tangibly and contributed to the stability and development of the region. The tripartite partnership and the meeting mechanism of their leaders were finalized at the meeting, marking a new development stage of China-Japan-South Korea cooperation. The three countries should strengthen cooperation from the strategic perspective of promoting common development, maintaining regional stability and building a harmonious Asia. To that end, China raised the following initiatives:

First, the three countries should reinforce policy communications and coordination. The tenth China-Japan-South Korea meeting, foreign ministers’ meeting and senior diplomats’ consultations will be held in China next year. Careful preparations for the celebrations on the 10th anniversary of the tripartite cooperation next year should be made, and a long-term strategic plan will be developed on the future tripartite partnership.

Second, trade and economic ties should be enhanced. Joint studies should be continued on the building of free trade zone of China, Japan and South Korea. A balanced, pragmatic and win-win investment agreement should be reached at the earliest date possible to improve mutual investment and the logistics system among the three nations should be developed. Customs cooperation is necessary to ensure and facilitate trade, and discussions on the establishment of trilateral industrial cooperation mechanism should be conducted.

Third, financial cooperation should be broadened. The expansion of bilateral currency swap among the three nations should be discussed, the trilateral cooperation in the 10+3 financial sector be boosted, the “Chiang Mai Initiative” multilateral process be accelerated, the regional foreign exchange reserve be established as soon as possible, the building of the Asian bond market be promoted and the cooperation of central banks of the three nations be enhanced.

Fourth, cooperation in the social sector should be enriched. Exchanges in such fields as parliament, education, culture, tourism, disaster prevention and alleviation, aging population and family healthcare, media and academe should be improved, the local and civil exchanges be promoted and the establishment of youth cultural exchange mechanism among the three countries be discussed.

Fifth, cooperation on sustainable development should be pushed forward, including cooperation in the fields of energy sources, energy efficiency and emission reduction, environmental protection and climate change.

Sixth, regional cooperation should be cemented. The integration process of ASEAN should be supported, the 10+3 cooperation be participated in actively, the role of the East Asia Summit as a strategic platform be strengthened and the regional cooperation in East Asia be accelerated. Communications and coordination on such major international and regional issues as the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue should be intensified.

Wen elaborated China’s position and proposition on the issue of international financial crisis. He stressed that China, Japan and South Korea join hands to play a core part in fighting the crisis in East Asia. The trilateral trade and economic meeting and meetings of financial ministers and central banks should be used to strengthen dialogue and coordination on macroeconomic policies. Discussions should be made on enhancing the financial, fiscal and currency cooperation among the three nations and agreement on the multilateralism of Chiang Mai Initiative” be reached at the earliest date possible.

On the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Wen said that the six-party talks stand at a critical moment of moving forward. Parties concerned should maintain and boost the momentum of the talks, accelerate the denuclearization on the peninsula, push for the normalizations of mutual relations and jointly promote the lasting peace and stability of Northeast Asia. China will continue, as always, to play a constructive part to reach those goals.

Taro Aso and Lee Myung-bak pointed out that Japan, South Korea and China, which are all important countries in the region, should take into account the realities, look into the future and follow the principles of mutual benefit, reciprocity and respect for cultural diversification to push forward pragmatic cooperation in various areas, increase communications and coordination on major issues, stimulate regional cooperation and make greater contributions to peace, stability and prosperity in East Asia.

They noted that the three countries should take measures to expand domestic demand faced with the severe challenges of the international financial crisis. Meanwhile, coordination and cooperation should be intensified and capacity of withstanding the crisis be strengthened in order to maintain the financial stability and economic growth of the three countries and the rest of the region as well. They should take tangible measures to facilitate trade investment, push forward the Doha round of talks and prevent trade protectionism.

Expressing admiration on China’s important role of pushing forward the six-party talks, they said that the talks represent an effective way of realizing denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. Japan and South Korea will maintain communications and cooperation with China, keep confidence, overcome difficulties and push for greater progress of the talks.

Leaders of the three nations also exchanged opinions on the issues of East Asia cooperation, Africa’s development, environment and climate change and UN reform and agreed to keep communications and consultations on major international and regional issues.

Following the meeting, they signed a Joint Statement on Trilateral Partnership (see another text) and issued a Joint Statement on the International Financial and Economic Issues (see another text), Joint Statement on Trilateral Disaster Management and an Action Plan of China, Japan and South Korea Cooperation. The leaders also jointly met with youth representatives of the three nations.