New round of FTA talk among China, Japan, ROK kicks off in Beijing

BEIJING -- The eighth round of top-level talks among China, Japan and Republic of Korea over establishing a free trade area (FTA) kicked off in Beijing on Thursday.

The two-day talk attended by chief negotiation representatives from the three countries including Chinese vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen will focus on commodity trade, service trade, investment and the domain of the FTA agreement.

The three-party FTA talk started in November 2012 after top leaders of the three countries reached a consensus in May that year. The FTA initiative aims to establish a comprehensive framework for trade, investment and cooperation in other fields among the three countries to promote a regional open market and boost growth.

The combined GDP totalled over $16 trillion, amounting for over 20 percent of the world's economic volume. Bilateral trade between China and ROK and Japan reached $290.5 billion and $312.5 billion respectively in 2014.