Launched in 2012, the RCEP brought together ten members of the Association of South Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its six trading partners in the region, including China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, China, Japan and South Korea began negotiations for a trilateral investment agreement. The agreement was officially signed in May 2012. In November of that year, the three countries formally began negotiations for a free trade agreement between China and Japan and South Korea. To prevent the United States from being isolated in international trade, China must actively promote trade liberalization and globalization, integrate more into international markets, and forge closer economic ties with more countries. This would not only promote Sino-Japanese economic relations, but also stimulate progress towards the trilateral free trade agreement between China and Japan and Korea, accelerate regional economic development and eventually open China to CPTPP membership. Currently, China is Japan`s largest trading partner and South Korea, and Japan and South Korea are China`s second and third largest trading partners, respectively. At the eighth China-Japan Summit of Heads of State and Government and last year, the heads of state and government of the three parties said they would work hard to achieve a free, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, predictable and stable business and investment environment, and to keep markets open. At present, the stability and improvement of Sino-Japanese relations have also created good conditions for the improvement of economic relations between the two sides. Japanese companies, in particular, are optimistic about the potential of China-Japan free trade cooperation, and calls for more cooperation from China and Japan are growing. The eleventh round of discussions took place from 9 to 11 January 2017, during which trade in goods, trade in services and investment was discussed.
[5] The current bilateral investment agreement between China and Japan came into force in 1989- relatively early. Although China and Japan have signed free trade agreements with many countries, China and Japan have not established a free trade mechanism due to external factors such as the rigidity of the U.S.-Japan alliance, U.S. strategic suspicions and volatile relations between South Korea and Japan. South Korea and Japan have held similar negotiations since late 2004, but talks have stalled as Japan is unwilling to reduce tariffs on agricultural products. Economic relations between Japan and South Korea are relatively competitive and the two countries have often been divided due to historical issues.