China–Japan–South Korea trilateral summit

Map of East Asia indicating China (red), Taiwan (pink), Japan (green), South Korea (blue), and North Korea (light blue)

---

Member states and key leaders:

---

China	President Xi Jinping[a] Premier Li Qiang
Japan	Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
South Korea	President Yoon Suk-yeol

---

The China–Japan–South Korea trilateral summit is an annual summit meeting attended by the People's Republic of China, Japan and South Korea, three major countries in East Asia and the world's second, fourth and 12th largest economies. The first summit was held during December 2008 in Fukuoka, Japan.^[1] The talks are focused on maintaining strong trilateral relations,^[2] the regional economy^[3][4] and disaster relief.^[5]

The summits were first proposed by South Korea in 2004, as a meeting outside the framework of the ASEAN Plus Three, with the three major economies of East Asia having a separate community forum. In November 2007 during the ASEAN Plus Three meeting, the leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea held their eighth meeting, and decided to strengthen political dialogue and consultations between the three countries, eventually deciding on an ad hoc meeting to be held in 2008.

In September 2011, the three countries launched the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat in Seoul. The Secretary-General is appointed on a two-year rotational basis in the order of Korea, Japan, and China. Each country other than the one of the Secretary-General nominates a Deputy Secretary-General respectively.

Summits

Leader summits

Summit	Host Country	Participants			Host City	Date
		China Premier	Japan Prime Minister	South Korea President
1st	Japan	Wen Jiabao	Tarō Asō	Lee Myung-bak	Dazaifu	13 December 2008
2nd	China	Wen Jiabao	Yukio Hatoyama	Lee Myung-bak	Beijing	10 October 2009
3rd	South Korea	Wen Jiabao	Yukio Hatoyama	Lee Myung-bak	Jeju	29 May 2010
4th	Japan	Wen Jiabao	Naoto Kan	Lee Myung-bak	Fukushima & Tokyo	21–22 May 2011
5th	China	Wen Jiabao	Yoshihiko Noda	Lee Myung-bak	Beijing	13–14 May 2012
6th	South Korea	Li Keqiang	Shinzō Abe	Park Geun-hye	Seoul	1 November 2015
7th	Japan	Li Keqiang	Shinzō Abe	Moon Jae-in	Tokyo	9 May 2018
8th	China	Li Keqiang	Shinzō Abe	Moon Jae-in	Chengdu	23–25 December 2019
9th	South Korea	Li Qiang	Fumio Kishida	Yoon Suk-yeol	Seoul	TBD

Foreign Ministers' Meetings

Summit	Host Country	Participants			Host City	Date
		China	Japan	South Korea
1st	South Korea	Yang Jiechi	Tarō Asō	Song Min-soon	Jeju	3 June 2007
2nd	Japan	Yang Jiechi	Masahiko Kōmura	Yu Myung-hwan	Tokyo	14 June 2008
3rd	China	Yang Jiechi	Katsuya Okada	Yu Myung-hwan	Shanghai	28 September 2009
4th	South Korea	Yang Jiechi	Katsuya Okada	Yu Myung-hwan	Gyeongju	15 May 2010
5th	Japan	Yang Jiechi	Takeaki Matsumoto	Kim Sung-hwan	Kyoto	19 March 2011
6th	China	Yang Jiechi	Kōichirō Genba	Kim Sung-hwan	Ningbo	8 April 2012
7th	South Korea	Wang Yi	Fumio Kishida	Yun Byung-se	Seoul	21 March 2015
8th	Japan	Wang Yi	Fumio Kishida	Yun Byung-se	Kurashiki	24 August 2016
9th	China	Wang Yi	Tarō Kōno	Kang Kyung-wha	Beijing	21 August 2019
	South Korea	Wang Yi	Toshimitsu Motegi	Kang Kyung-wha	(virtual)	20 March 2020
10th	South Korea	Wang Yi	Yōko Kamikawa	Park Jin	Busan	26 November 2023

Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meetings Summit Host Country Host City Date 1st  Brunei Brunei 9 September 2000 2nd  China Shanghai 11 May 2002 3rd  Indonesia Bali 5 July 2003 4th  South Korea Jeju 16 May 2004 5th  Turkey Istanbul 4 May 2005 6th  India Hyderabad 4 May 2006 7th  Japan Tokyo 4 May 2007 8th  Spain Madrid 4 May 2008 9th  Indonesia Bali 3 May 2009 10th  Uzbekistan Tashkent 2 May 2010 11th  Vietnam Hanoi 4 May 2011 12th  Philippines Manila 3 May 2012 13th  Australia Cairns 19 September 2014 14th  Azerbaijan Baku 3 May 2015 15th  Peru Lima 8 October 2015 16th  Germany Frankfurt 3 May 2016 17th  Japan Yokohama 5 May 2017 18th  Philippines Manila 4 May 2018 19th  Fiji Nadi 2 May 2019 20th (virtual) 18 September 2020 21st 3 May 2021 22nd 12 May 2022 23rd  South Korea Incheon 2 May 2023

Economic and Trade Ministers' Meetings Summit Host Country Host City Date 1st  Brunei Brunei 13 September 2002 2nd  Cambodia Phnom Penh 3 September 2003 3rd  Indonesia Jakarta 4 September 2004 4th  Philippines Manila 9 December 2006 5th  Singapore Singapore 19 November 2007 6th  Thailand Hua Hin 25 October 2009 7th  South Korea Seoul 23 May 2010 8th  Japan Tokyo 24 April 2011 9th  China Beijing 12 May 2012 10th  South Korea Seoul 30 October 2015 11th  Japan Tokyo 26 October 2016 12th  China Beijing 22 December 2019

Health Ministers' Meetings Summit Host Country Host City Date 1st  South Korea Seoul 8 April 2007 2nd  China Beijing 2 November 2008 3rd  Japan Tokyo 23 November 2009 4th  South Korea Jeju 21 November 2010 5th  China Qingdao 13 November 2011 6th  South Korea Seoul 24 November 2013 7th  China Beijing 23 November 2014 8th  Japan Kyoto 29 November 2015 9th  South Korea Busan 4 December 2016 10th  China Jinan 12 November 2017 11th  Japan Kumamoto 25 November 2018 12th  South Korea Seoul 15 December 2019 Special (virtual) 15 May 2020 13th  China (virtual) 11 December 2020 14th  Japan (virtual) 21 December 2021 15th  South Korea (virtual) 16 December 2022 16th  China Beijing 3 December 2023

Environment Ministers' Meetings Summit Host Country Host City Date 1st  South Korea Seoul 12 January 1999 2nd  China Beijing 26 February 2000 3rd  Japan Tokyo 7 April 2001 4th  South Korea Seoul 20 April 2002 5th  China Beijing 13 December 2003 6th  Japan Tokyo 4 December 2004 7th  South Korea Seoul 22 October 2005 8th  China Beijing 2 December 2006 9th  Japan Toyama 4 December 2007 10th  South Korea Jeju 1 December 2008 11th  China Beijing 13 June 2009 12th  Japan Hokkaido 22 May 2010 13th  South Korea Busan 28 April 2011 14th  China Beijing 3 May 2012 15th  Japan Kitakyushu 5 May 2013 16th  South Korea Daegu 28 April 2014 17th  China Shanghai 29 April 2015 18th  Japan Shizuoka 27 April 2016 19th  South Korea Suwon 25 August 2017 20th  China Suzhou 24 June 2018 21st  Japan Kitakyushu 23–24 November 2019 22nd  South Korea (virtual) 7 December 2021 23rd  China (virtual) 1 December 2022 24th  Japan Nagoya 4 November 2023

Culture Ministers' Meetings Summit Host Country Host City Date 1st  China Nantong 19–21 September 2007 2nd  South Korea Jeju 24–26 December 2008 3rd  Japan Nara 18–20 January 2011 4th  China Shanghai 5–6 May 2012 5th  South Korea Gwangju 27–28 September 2013 6th  Japan Yokohama 29–30 November 2014 7th  China Qingdao 19–20 December 2015 8th  South Korea Jeju 27–28 August 2016 9th  Japan Kyoto 25–26 August 2017 10th  China Harbin 29–31 August 2018 11th  South Korea Incheon 29–31 August 2019 12th  Japan (virtual) 30 August 2021 13th  China (virtual) 26 August 2022 14th  South Korea Jeonju 7–8 September 2023

Leader summits at EAS

Summit	Host Country	Host City	Date
1st	Philippines	Manila	29 November 1999
2nd	Singapore	Singapore	24 November 2000
3rd	Brunei	Bandar Seri Begawan	5 November 2001
4th	Cambodia	Phnom Penh	4 November 2002
5th	Indonesia	Bali	7 October 2003
6th	Laos	Vientiane	29 November 2004
7th	Philippines	Cebu	14 January 2007
8th	Singapore	Singapore	20 November 2007
9th	Thailand	Pattaya	11 April 2009
10th	Vietnam	Hanoi	29 October 2010
11th	Indonesia	Bali	19 November 2011

1st trilateral summit (2008)

The first separate meeting of the leaders of the three countries was held in Fukuoka, Japan. During the meeting, the "Joint Statement between the three partners" was signed and issued, which identified the direction and principles behind cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea. The conference adopted the "International Financial and Economic Issues Joint Statement", "Disaster Management of the Three Countries Joint Statement" and "Action plan to promote cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea".

Trilateral relations

One of the topics discussed focused on the improvement of future relations between the three countries, from strategic and long-term perspectives. Prior talks between the three countries have been hindered specifically by various territorial and historical disputes.^[6] Chinese premier Wen Jiabao stated that "China is willing to make joint efforts with Japan to continue to develop the strategic and mutually beneficial ties in a healthy and stable manner, to benefit the peoples of the two countries and other nations in the region as well."^[2] Japanese prime minister Tarō Asō also expressed that he believed the best manner in dealing with the economic crisis of 2008 was economic partnership.^[7] There is also speculation of a future regional Free trade area. Such co-operation would greatly benefit the three nations, which account for two thirds of total trade,^[8] 40% of total population and three quarters^{[citation needed]} of the GDP of Asia (20% of global GDP^[9]), during the ongoing economic crisis.^[10]

2nd trilateral summit (2009)

The second summit was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Despite the worries of limitations that the summit has faced in 2008, this all changed in 2009, when Japan, China and Korea were forced to coordinate and cooperate more closely to manage the regional effects of the global financial crisis.

In their joint statement on the crisis, the trio identified the need to cooperate on global issues (such as financial risk) and in global institutions, including at the G20. While a reaction to global events, this cooperation began to significantly affect the management of East Asia. Over the course of 2009, the three nations resolved their long running dispute over contributions (and thus voting weight) in the Chiang Mai Initiatives, the first major 'success' of the ASEAN Plus Three process. The three nations also worked together to push through a general capital increase at the Asian Development Bank to help it fight the effects of the global financial crisis, a decision mandated by the G20 but about which the US appeared ambivalent.^[11]

3rd trilateral summit (2010)

The third summit among these three countries was held in Jeju, Korea. The prime minister of Korea, Lee Myung bak hosted the meeting and China's prime minister, Wen Jiabao, Japan's prime minister Yukio Hatoyama attended the meeting. One document called the 2020 Cooperation Prospect was released, which firstly emphasized that the three countries will face up to history and cooperate for the future development. Also, looking forward to the specific goals that should be achieved in the next ten years, this document stressed the importance to concentrate on the cooperation in different fields.

In the progress of institutionalizations and improvements of the partnership, the leaders decided to enhance the communication and strategic mutual trust. The leaders agreed to establish a secretariat in Korea in 2011 to confront the natural disaster, discuss the possibility to build up the 'defense dialogue mechanism', improve the policing cooperation and boost the communication among the government. In terms of sustainable development and common prosperity, the leaders said they would try to complete the survey of the Trilateral Free Trade Area before 2012; improve the trade volume; enhance trade facilitation and they restated that they would attach great importance to the customs cooperation; make efforts to the negotiation about investment agreement and offer necessary infrastructure for the improvement of the free flow of investment capital; enhance the coordination of the financial departments; improve the effectiveness of the multilateral Chiang mai initiate; reject all forms of trade protectionism; improve the cooperation in science and innovation; and strengthen the cooperation and consultation policies in the fields of industry, energy, the energy efficiency and resource.

4th trilateral summit (2011)

Because the previous three summit meetings covered a wide range of world issues, they did not produce any concrete outcome. There was no agreement on North Korea's nuclear development or on the March and September 2010 incidents involving North Korea. Moreover, although the leaders of the three countries had agreed to set up a permanent secretariat headquartered in Seoul to facilitate trilateral cooperation, it has still not been implemented. The three leaders had also agreed to strengthen mutual understanding and trust, expand cooperation in trade, investment, finance, and environmental protection. Not much progress has been achieved in these areas as well over the past one year.

The fourth meeting was held in the wake of the nuclear accident at Fukushima and the natural disaster in Japan. Prime Minister Kan Naoto proposed to hold the summit in Fukushima to convey the message to the world that Fukushima has already become a safe place. The Japanese government hoped that if the heads of the three countries gather in the crisis-stricken city, radiation fears will be mitigated. However, due to logistic problems, the meeting could not be held in Fukushima and instead was held in Tokyo.

While Japan was accused of not providing its neighbours with accurate information when radioactive materials leaked at Fukushima, the summit led to agreement to establish an emergency notification system, enhance cooperation among experts, and share information in the event of emergencies.^[12]

5th trilateral summit (2012)

14 May 2012, Leaders from China, Japan, and South Korea concluded the Fifth Trilateral Summit Meeting and signed the Trilateral Agreement for the Promotion, Facilitation and Protection of Investment (hereinafter referred as the Trilateral Agreement) at a summit in Beijing. The Trilateral Agreement represents a stepping stone towards a three-way free trade pact to counter global economic turbulence and to boost economic growth in Asia.

According to a joint declaration, the three nations will further enhance the “future-oriented comprehensive cooperative partnership” to unleash vitality into the economic growth of the three countries, accelerate economic integration in East Asia, and facilitate economic recovery and growth in the world.

In the joint declaration, the three nations list directions and prioritization of future cooperation, which includes enhancing mutual political trust, deepening economic and trade cooperation, promoting sustainable development, expanding social, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and strengthening communication and coordination in regional and international affairs.

Among all these proposals, the signing of the Trilateral Agreement and the decision to endorse the recommendation from the trade ministers to launch the trilateral FTA negotiations within this year are at the top of the priority list in deepening economic and trade cooperation.^[13]

6th trilateral summit (2015)

The 6th trilateral summit was held on 1 November 2015 in Seoul, resuming the summit since 2012 due to varieties of disputes and issues ranging from World War II apologies to territorial disputes among the three nations. During the summit, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, and South Korean President Park Geun-hye agreed to meet annually in order to work towards deepening trade relations with the proposed trilateral free trade agreement.^[14] They also agreed to pursue the six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.^[15]

7th trilateral summit (2018)

The 7th trilateral summit was held on 9 May 2018 in Tokyo, resuming the summit since 2015.^[16]

TCS Secretary-Generals

The Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) is an international organization established with a vision to promote peace and common prosperity among China, Japan, and South Korea.

List of TCS Secretary-Generals:

• Shin Bong-kil (1 September 2011 - 31 August 2013)
  • Rui Matsukawa & Mao Ning (Deputies)
• Shigeo Iwatani (1 September 2013 - 31 August 2015)
  • Chen Feng & Lee Jong-heon (Deputies)
• Yang Houlan (1 September 2015 – 31 August 2017)
  • Lee Jong-heon & Akima Umezawa (Deputies)
• Lee Jong-heon (1 September 2017 – 31 August 2019)
  • Yamamoto Yasushi & Han Mei (Deputies)
• Hisashi Michigami (1 September 2019 – 31 August 2021)
  • Jing Cao & Kang Do-ho (Deputies)
• Ou Boqian (1 September 2021 – present)
  • Bek Bum-hym & Sakata Natsuko (Deputies)

Countries data and comparison

Name	China	Japan	South Korea
Official name	People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国)	Japan (日本)	Republic of Korea (대한민국)
Coat of arms
Flag
Population	1,404,237,200	125,930,000	51,780,579
Area	9,596,960[b]	377,915	100,210
Population Density	146.3/sq mi	333.2/sq mi	516.7/sq mi
Government	Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party parliamentary socialist republic	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy	Unitary presidential constitutional republic
Formation	2070 BC (First imperial dynasty) 10 October 1911 (Republic declared) 1 October 1949 (People's Republic proclaimed)	11 February 660 BC (National Foundation Day)	3 October 2333 BC (First Korean state) 15 August 1945 (Independence and division) 15 August 1948 (Republic declared)
Capital	Beijing – 16,446,857	Tokyo – 9,272,740	Seoul – 9,904,312
Largest City	Shanghai – 20,217,748
Official language	Standard Chinese (de facto and de jure)	Japanese (de facto and de jure)	Korean (de facto and de jure)
Currency	Renmin (¥) – RMB	Japanese yen (¥) – JPY	South Korean won (₩) – KRW
Human Development Index	0.758 high 85th	0.915 very high 19th	0.906 very high 23rd

Demographics

Pudong financial center of Shanghai.

Shinjuku financial center of Tokyo.

Jongno financial center of Seoul.

Largest municipals in China, Japan, & South Korea

China Municipal Urban population (2010 Census) Shanghai 20,217,748 Beijing 16,446,857 Shenzhen 10,358,381 Guangzhou 9,702,144 Tianjin 9,562,255 Chongqing 8,894,757 Wuhan 7,541,527 Hong Kong 7,336,585 Dongguan 7,271,322 Foshan 6,771,895

Japan Municipal Population (2015 Census) Yokohama 3,724,844 Osaka 2,691,185 Nagoya 2,295,638 Sapporo 1,952,356 Fukuoka 1,538,681 Kobe 1,537,272 Kawasaki 1,475,213 Kyoto 1,475,183 Saitama 1,263,979

South Korea Municipal Population (2015 Census) Seoul 9,904,312 Busan 3,448,737 Incheon 2,890,451 Daegu 2,466,052 Daejeon 1,538,394 Gwangju 1,502,881 Suwon 1,194,313 Ulsan 1,166,615 Changwon 1,059,241 Goyang 990,073

Military

Country	Active Military	Military Budget billions of USD (2022)	Military Budget % of GDP (2022)
China	2,183,000	292.0	1.6
Japan	247,160	46.0	1.1
South Korea	580,000	46.4	2.7

Economy

Country	Currency	GDP nominal millions of USD (2023)[19]	GDP PPP millions of USD (2023)	GDP nominal per capita USD (2023)	GDP PPP per capita USD (2023)	Exports millions of USD (2022)	Imports millions of USD (2022)	International trade millions of USD (2022)
China	Chinese yuan (CNY; 圆; ￥)	19,373,586	33,014,998	13,721	23,382	3,593,601	2,715,999	6,309,600
Japan	Japanese yen (JPY; 円; ￥)	4,409,738	6,456,527	35,385	51,809	746,920	897,242	1,644,162
South Korea	South Korean won (KRW; 원; ￦)	1,721,909	2,924,038	33,393	56,706	683,585	731,370	1,414,955

Credit ratings

Country	Fitch	Moody's	S&P
China	A+	A1	A+
Japan	A	A1	A+
South Korea	AA-	Aa2	AA

Organization and groups

Country	ACD, ADB, APEC, APNIC, APT, EAS, G20, IMF, Interpol, IPU, ISA, RCEP, UN(ESCAP), WBG, WTO	BRICS, P5, SCO	G4, G7	CPTPP	MIKTA, UfC	APT, CICA	AIIB, BRI	ICC, IPEF, MNNA, OECD
China	Y	Y	N	N (application submitted)	N	Y	Y	N
Japan	Y	N	Y	Y	N	(observer)	N	Y
South Korea	Y	N	N	N (application planned)	Y	Y	Y	Y

Airport traffic

Top busiest airports by passenger traffic (2019)

Country	Airport	Total passengers
China	Beijing Capital International Airport	100,011,000
Japan	Tokyo International Airport	85,505,054
South Korea	Incheon International Airport	71,169,516

Top busiest airports by international passenger traffic (2018)

Country	Airport	Total passengers
China	Hong Kong International Airport	74,360,976
South Korea	Incheon International Airport	67,676,147
Japan	Narita International Airport	35,300,076

Top busiest airports by cargo traffic (2019)

Country	Airport	Total passengers
China	Hong Kong International Airport	4,809,485
South Korea	Incheon International Airport	2,764,369
Japan	Narita International Airport	2,104,063

Top busiest city airport systems by passenger traffic (2018)

Country	Airport	Total passengers
Japan	Tokyo: Narita, Haneda, & Chōfu	130,589,705
China	Shanghai: Pudong & Hongqiao	117,636,331
South Korea	Seoul: Incheon & Gimpo	92,953,372

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit.

• 
  1st CJK summit in 2008 at Fukuoka, Japan
• 
  2nd CJK summit in 2009 at Beijing, China
• 
  3rd CJK summit in 2010 at Jeju, South Korea
• 
  4th CJK summit in 2011 at Tokyo, Japan
• 
  5th CJK summit in 2012 at Beijing, China
• 
  6th CJK summit in 2015 at Seoul, South Korea
• 
  7th CJK summit in 2018 at Tokyo, Japan
• 
  8th CJK summit in 2019 at Chengdu, China

See also

• Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat
• China–Japan–South Korea Free Trade Agreement
• Economy of China / Japan / South Korea
• Relations between China and Japan / China and South Korea / Japan and South Korea
• Disputes between Japan and Korea
• Senkaku Islands dispute
• Socotra Rock dispute
• Financial crisis of 2007–08
• 2008 in China
• East Asia

Notes

References

External links

• Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (official website)

• v
• t
• e

East Asia

Countries and regions

• China
  • Hong Kong
  • Macau
  • Mainland
• Japan
  • Ryukyu
• Mongolia
• North Korea
• South Korea
• Taiwan

Ethnic groups

• Ainu
• Han
  • subgroups
• Hui
• Japanese
  • Yamato
• Koreans
  • in China
  • in Japan
  • in Sakhalin
• Manchu
• Miao
• Mongolic
  • Mongols
    • in China
    • Khalkha in Mongolia
• Qiang
• Ryukyuans
• Indigenous Taiwanese
• Tibetans
• Tujia
• Uyghurs
• Yi
• Zhuang
• other ethnic groups in China
  • unrecognized
  • historical

Culture

• Age reckoning
• Architecture‎
• Art
  • Chinese
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Taiwanese
• Blepharoplasty
• Buddhism
• Calligraphy
• Cinema
• Cuisine
• Cultural sphere
• Dance
• Decorative knotwork
• Dragon
• Fashion
• Festivals
• Gardens
• Han characters
• Hip-and-gable roof
• Languages
• Literature
• Mādhyamaka
• Music
• Mythology
• Philosophy
• Religion
• Scripts
• Seal
• Sino-Xenic pronunciations
• Surnames
• Television
• Typography
  • Ming
  • Imitation Song
  • Gothic
• Yogācāra
• Zodiac

Environment

• East Asia Climate Partnership
• Monsoon
• Rainy season
• Flora

Economy and Politics

• China–Japan–South Korea trilateral summit
• Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia
• Capitalism
• East Asia Summit
• East Asian Bureau of Economic Research
• East Asian Community
• Four Asian Tigers
• Human rights in East Asia
• Ports
• Stock exchanges

History

• Archaeology
• Archaeological cultures
• Bronze Age
• Iron Age
• Former countries

Sports

• China–Japan–Korea Friendship Athletic Meeting
• East Asian Football Federation
• East Asian Games
• East Asian Judo Championships
• East Asian martial arts
• East Asian Youth Games
• EAFF E-1 Football Championship

Education

• Association of East Asian Research Universities
• CrossAsia
• East Asian Economic Review
• East Asia Image Collection
• East Asia Law Review
• East Asian studies
• Journal of East Asian Studies
• Ludwigshafen East Asia Institute

Military

• Horses in East Asian warfare
• Bansenshūkai
• Miyamoto Musashi
• Sun Tzu
• The Art of War
• The Book of Five Rings
• Yi Sun-sin

Science and technology

• Needham Research Institute
• Printing
• Swords
• Traditional medicine