China-Japan-ROK cooperation

4. Agriculture

The scale and national conditions of agriculture as well as economic development levels of China, Japan and the ROK are different. Strengthening agricultural cooperation among them is not only helpful for promoting agricultural development of the three countries, but also conducive to improving the well-being of people in the three countries and maintaining food security of Asia and the world as a whole.

At the Second Trilateral Summit Meeting in 2009, leaders of the three countries reached the consensus to "explore a mechanism of tripartite agricultural cooperation". The First Trilateral Agriculture Ministers' Meeting was held in the ROK in April 2012. Chinese Agriculture Minister Han Changfu, ROK Minister Suh Kyu Yong for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Japanese Minister Michihiko Kano of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries led delegations to the meeting and had an in-depth exchange of views on food security, disease prevention and control for animals and plants, the set-up of agricultural partnership and other global and regional hot-spot issues concerning agriculture or food. They also issued a joint communique. The success of the meeting marked significant improvement of the tripartite agricultural cooperation mechanism and the growing tripartite agricultural cooperation in depth and breath.

Agricultural Technology

In August 2007, the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the National Institute of Crop Science of the Rural Development Administration of the ROK and the Institute of Crop Science of Japan signed a memorandum of understanding on scientific and technological cooperation with each other and decided to hold a China-Japan-ROK symposium on crop sciences alternately in the three countries. Since 2008, four symposiums have been held to promote and enhance tripartite exchanges in areas such as scientific research and industrial development of rice and soybean and to push forward tripartite exchanges of agricultural science and technology. The fifth symposium will be held in Beijing in 2012.

In October 2003, the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) and the Japanese Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (PRIMAFF) discussed together future tripartite cooperation in areas such as rural economy and trade of agricultural products and set up a forum for agricultural policy research in Northeast Asia which has now undergone development for eight years.

China, Japan and the ROK have common aspirations for promoting sustainable agricultural development, speeding up innovation of agricultural science and technology and transferring them into productivity. As the next step, the three countries will enhance strategic research on agricultural science and technology, and agree on cooperation projects through such ways as project match-making symposiums. The three countries will identify priority areas of cooperation on agricultural science and technology and engage in exchanges and cooperation on food security study, sustainable agricultural production and introduction of small agricultural machinery.

Fishery Science and Technology

Since 1990, the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, the Fisheries Research Agency of Japan and the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute of the ROK have jointly carried out academic exchanges among scientific and technical personnel and held a China-Japan-ROK symposium on fishery science and technology every year. By November 2011, 22 symposiums had been held, during which fishery experts from the three countries released more than 300 papers. The symposium has played a positive role in promoting the scientific research and management in areas such as conservation of fishery resources and marine ecological and environmental protection of the three countries.

In June 2006, heads of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, the Fisheries Research Agency of Japan and the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute of the ROK signed an MOU in Busan, the ROK, and decided to hold a trilateral meeting of heads of fisheries research institutes alternately every year to further develop their cooperative partnership. Up to now, five such meetings have been held.

The three countries have actively promoted the exchanges of fishery scientific and technical personnel under the mechanisms of China-Japan-ROK symposium on fishery science and technology and China-Japan-ROK meeting of heads of fisheries research institutes.

Within the framework of the MOU signed by the three countries, their competent institutions have had joint studies on the cooperation areas jointly identified by the three countries, and engaged in extensive cooperation in fields such as climate impact on fishery and the environment, the occurrence of giant jellyfish and the easing of pressure on the large marine ecosystem of the Yellow Sea. As a result, a favorable atmosphere of win-win cooperation has been formed gradually, forcefully promoting the sustainable development of fishery science and technology of the three countries.

Against the backdrop of quickening global fishery integration and increasing demand for fishery scientific and technological development, China, Japan and the ROK should step up cooperation in the following areas: Expand cooperation areas, continue with their joint studies in culture and stock enhancement in fishery, the impact of climate change on marine environment and resources, safety study of aquatic products, study on giant jellyfish, study on low-carbon society of energy conservation, study on the protection of coastal ecological system and resources and technologies of sustainable utilization, etc; enhance platform building, continue to improve the two mechanisms of China-Japan-ROK symposium on fishery science and technology and China-Japan-ROK meeting of heads of fisheries research institutes, explore the building of platforms such as bilateral or multi-lateral joint laboratories or testing sites and promote joint study projects.

5. Water resources

Due to the impact of global climate change, extreme weather has been frequent, leading to acute problems such as flooding, drought and water shortage. Such problems have become a common challenge to the Asia-Pacific and the whole world. China, Japan and the ROK all belong to the Northeast Asia region, and are friendly neighbors separated by only a strip of water. They enjoy extensive exchanges and sound cooperation in the field of water conservancy.

The Second Trilateral Summit Meeting in 2009 issued the Joint Statement on Sustainable Development which read "establish a mechanism for meeting of ministers responsible for water resources in due course, focusing on integrated river management and water resources management adapting to climate change". In March 2012, China, Japan and the ROK signed a memorandum of cooperation on the mechanism of ministerial meeting among the Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Korea and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan in Marseille, France, in which they decided to hold "a ministerial meeting at least every three years", covering cooperation areas such as policy exchanges and dialogue, experience and information sharing, joint scientific research, capacity-building and release of common position paper. The signing of the memorandum of cooperation marked a new stage of tripartite cooperation in the field of water resources.

Prior to the inception of the mechanism of ministerial meeting of water resources, tripartite cooperation on water conservancy was carried out mainly under the mechanism of the World Water Forum. During the Fourth World Water Forum and the Ministerial Meeting held in Mexico in March 2006, the Ministry of Water Resources of China, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan and the then Ministry of Construction and Transportation of the ROK jointly hosted three sub-meetings on "flooding management", "river restoration in the monsoon areas of Asia" and "information system of water resources", and released a joint initiative of the sub-meetings of China, Japan and the ROK in the Fourth World Water Forum.

During the Fifth World Water Forum and the Ministerial Meeting held in Turkey in March 2009, the Ministry of Water Resources of China hosted a special sub-meeting on major natural disasters and risk management of water conservancy infrastructure. Japan and the ROK attended the special sub-meeting at invitation. Thanks to the coordination of the organizing committee of the Forum, the Ministry of Water Resources of China, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs of the ROK and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan jointly hosted the Ministerial Roundtable Meeting on Water and Disasters. The three parties also signed a joint statement on water management cooperation and expressed their willingness to consider the signing of a memorandum of cooperation, engage in joint studies and hold the trilateral Ministerial Meeting of Water.

During the Sixth World Water Forum and the Ministerial Meeting held in France in March 2012, the three countries signed a memorandum of cooperation. The Ministry of Water Resources of China and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan jointly held the Ministerial Roundtable Meeting on Water and Disasters.

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