China, ROK, Japan work for peace, cooperation in Northeast Asia

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and South Korean President Park Geun-hye attend the sixth China-Japan-South Korea leaders' meeting in the South Korean capital of Seoul, Nov 1, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

SEOUL - China, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan jointly declared here on Sunday to strengthen their cooperation mechanism and boost dialogue and cooperation in a bid to realize peace, stability and prosperity in Northeast Asia.

The pledge was made by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, ROK President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while attending the 6th China-Japan-ROK meeting.

In the joint declaration for peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia issued after the meeting, the three countries reaffirmed that the trilateral meeting will be held on a regular basis.

In order to expand cooperation, they decided to encourage a more active promotion of over 50 intergovernmental consultative mechanisms, including about 20 ministerial-level ones, and numerous cooperation projects, as well as creating new intergovernmental consultative mechanisms.

The three countries shared the view that the creation of a trilateral cooperation fund will be conducive to the development of trilateral cooperation projects.

Both China and Japan agreed to further advance the ROK's Northeast Asia peace and cooperation initiative aimed to build trust in the region through dialogue and cooperation.

The three sides reached a consensus on the trilateral consultations on nuclear safety and continue to strengthen their cooperation on civil nuclear safety.

The three countries also promised to strengthen cooperation on disaster prevention and relief capabilities.

The annual trilateral meeting mechanism was conducted through 2008 to 2012, with a standstill afterwards largely due to Japan's political maneuvers.

The three leaders agreed that trilateral cooperation has been completely restored on the occasion of the Seoul meeting, held almost three and a half years after the 5th trilateral meeting in May 2012 in Beijing.

The three countries, in the spirit of facing history squarely and advancing toward the future, agreed to address related issues properly and make joint efforts on better bilateral ties and closer trilateral cooperation.