China to promote Northeast Asia FTA

China will actively promote the establishment of the North-East Asia Free Trade Area this year. That's according to China's Ministry of Commerce, which introduced on Tuesday the preparation work for the 9th China-Northeast Asia Expo, an expo that brings together both international and regional trade partners.

Vice Minister of China's Commerce Ministry Chen Jian said the 9th China-Northeast Asia Expo is scheduled to open on September 6th in Jilin's provincial capital of Changchun and will last 6 days. Still months away, heavy prep work is already underway. Chen says China will use the expo as a platform to actively promote the establishment of the North-East Asia Free Trade Area.

Chen Jian, Vice Minister, Ministry of Commerce, said, "Talks on the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement have already started. We will continue to promote trade facilitation by removing obstacles in time."

Responding to questions on whether shrinking trade volume between China and Japan would impact the China-Northeast Asia Expo, Chen Jian says Japan's choice of words and actions regarding the Diaoyu islands have hurt bilateral trade. But it will not impact the expo.

Chen Jian, Vice Minister, Ministry of Commerce, said, "Japan's investments in China rose a lot in the first two months of this year. I believe that the Diaoyu Islands dispute will not dampen Japanese people and companies' desire to develop economic relations with China."

The Vice Minister of the Commerce Ministry says he believes that Sino-Japan bilateral trade may thaw through joint efforts.