On February 26, 2021, the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the ROK held a meeting between the chief negotiators for the second phase of the FTA negotiations via video link. The two sides had further consultations on trade in services, investment rules and market liberalization in the form of negative list. The negotiations made positive progress.

Both sides share the view that efforts towards early substantive outcomes for the second phase will increase bilateral trade in services, improve the level of investment liberalization and facilitation, further integrate industrial and supply chains in East Asia, and play a positive role in combating COVID-19 and supporting free trade and multilateralism.

In December 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping and ROK President Moon Jae-in jointly announced to launch the second phase of the China-ROK FTA negotiations, which is China’s first negotiations on services trade and investment liberalization in the mode of negative list.