According to the joint statement, the tripartite cooperation is expected to create a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable future for the region and the international community. The three countries will cope with challenges in the global economy and financial markets by enhancing mutual political trust, increasing trade and economic contact, expanding social and cultural exchanges and strengthening financial cooperation.

China, Japan and South Korea signed a joint statement on enhancing cooperation in natural disaster management. According to the statement, the three countries should share information on projects, initiatives, best practices, lessons learned and science and technology to reduce vulnerability to disasters, minimize their damage and make disaster management more effective.

The three countries also reached consensus on opposing trade protectionism, promising they would not set new barriers to trade or investment in the following 12 months.

Three days before the tripartite summit, the central banks in the three countries released a joint statement establishing an annual meeting for central bank governors to exchange views on the regional economic and financial situation. The People's Bank of China is scheduled to host the first meeting in 2009.

Cooperation among the three countries can also help stabilize the global financial situation because their combined gross domestic product (GDP) covers the majority of East Asia, one of the three economic and trade zones besides North America and the European Union. Experts say that East Asia, especially Northeast Asia, will make great contributions to world economic development next year.

During the Fukuoka summit, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of Korea announced plans to expand their currency swap deal to $20 billion from the current $3 billion in a temporary arrangement through April 2009, in response to the global financial crisis. The central banks of China and South Korea also agreed to expand their currency swap, which involves 180 billion yuan (about $26.3 billion) over the next three years to help South Korea solve liquidity problems. (More on page 39)

In a November 6 report, the International Monetary Fund suggested three reasons that East Asian economies have suffered less from the global financial crisis: fairly stable and healthy financial conditions, decreasing commodity prices and macro-control policies. The World Bank also published a report on December 10, saying that although the global financial crisis has affected GDP growth in East Asian countries, they would still account for one third of global economic growth in 2008. The report observed that proper policies and structural reform would give the region even more advantages in dealing with the crisis.

Liu Junhong, a researcher on Japanese studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said in People's Daily on December 12 that tripartite cooperation would play an important role in promoting peace, stability and development in Northeast Asia, and East Asia as a whole. Under the ASEAN framework, China, Japan and South Korea have formed a regular meeting system to deepen cooperation in various aspects.

With the world economy on the edge of recession, Liu said, regional cooperation is the best way forward. If the three countries strengthen regional strategic dialogue and policy coordination, push forward cooperation in trade, investment and financial aspects, and enhance communication of personnel, knowledge, information and technology, they can not only make up for the structural shortcomings of East Asian regional cooperation, but also solve internal conflicts in Northeast Asia and maintain their common development space.

Feng Zhaokui from the CASS pointed out that the new meeting system is only the first step in Northeast Asian cooperation. "With common targets, interests and values, they can join hands and solve bigger problems, such as climate change," he said. But he also warned that the three neighbors must overcome ideological differences and treat their historical problems with special caution.

Numbers

- China, Japan and South Korea reached consensus on opposing

trade protectionism, promising they would not set new barriers to trade or

investment in the following months

- The Bank of Japan and the Bank of Korea announced plans to

expand their currency swap deal to from the current

in a temporary arrangement through April 2009

- The central banks of China and South Korea agreed to expand their currency swap, which involves (about ) over the next three years to help South Korea solve liquidity problems