China willing to expedite talks on free trade agreement with Japan, ROK: spokesperson

BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua) -- China stands ready to join efforts with Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) to speed up negotiations on a tripartite free trade agreement (FTA), the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

The Chinese side attaches great significance to the talks on the FTA, which is expected to drive the steady recovery of the regional and even global economies, MOC spokesperson He Yadong told a briefing.

In a joint declaration of the Ninth Trilateral Summit Meeting among China, Japan and the ROK released earlier this week, the three countries pledged to maintain discussions for speeding up the FTA negotiations, aimed at realizing a free, fair, comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficial pact with its own value.

China, Japan and the ROK launched FTA talks in November 2012 and have held 16 rounds of negotiations so far. The MOC spokesperson said the important consensus reached during the meeting in Seoul, the ROK, has paved the way for advancing negotiations swiftly.

Noting that the industrial chains of the three countries are highly interconnected and their economies are highly complementary, He said the FTA is expected to expand market access, reduce trade barriers, boost trade and investment, and improve the business environment.