The fifth round of negotiations on the China-Japan-Korea free trade area closed in Beijing on September 5. Negotiators from China, Japan and South Korea had fruitful talks on such issues as tariff reduction modes of trade in goods, ways of opening service trade and investment, and the range and fields of the agreement.

The three sides made active progress in all fields, especially in such aspects as the scales and fields of the agreement and future plans of negotiations. They exchanged in-depth views on trade in goods, service trade and investment and further narrowed differences. In terms of scales and fields, except for 11 established working groups, they agreed to include e-commerce, environment and cooperation in the agreement and set up working groups accordingly. They also passed new arrangements for future negotiations.

The three sides agreed that the sixth round of negotiations will be held in Tokyo, Japan at the end of November. Before then, they will hold an interim meeting in South Korea.