On 17 October 2024, the 20th Tripartite Meeting among Secretaries General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) and ASEAN-Korea Centre (AKC) was held in Yangzhou of Jiangsu Province in China. The Meeting was presided over by Secretary General Shi Zhongjun of the ACC. Secretary General Kunihiko Hirabayashi of the AJC and Secretary General Kim Jae-Shin of the AKC attended the Meeting.

     Shi Zhongjun underlined that, as the main vehicle and leading champion to advance regional cooperation in East Asia, ASEAN-Plus-Three (APT) mechanism was inaugurated to jointly address the Asian financial crisis in 1997, and has earned its name through meeting up such challenges as the international financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic, and kept steeling itself into one of the cornerstones buttressing regional stability and prosperity. Last week, the 27th APT Summit held in Vientiane commended the endeavors by the ACC, AJC and AKC, and called for the three Centers to enhance linkages and continue facilitating trade and economic cooperation among APT countries through various activities in collaboration with each other or respectively. The ACC stands ready to continue working with the AJC and AKC, strengthening exchanges and sharing experience, focusing on implementing the consensus among the APT leaders, through jointly carrying out more concrete projects, so as to contribute more to the well-being of the peoples, and lasting stability and prosperity in East Asia.
     Kunihiko Hirabayashi spoke highly of the significance of the Tripartite mechanism and pointed out that Japan, China, ROK and ASEAN countries, in the cause seeking common development, share the same aspiration, face up to the same challenges and shoulder the same responsibility. The APT countries should draw on their collective strengths and enhance mutually beneficial exchanges and learning. The AJC attaches importance to the diversified and inclusive growth of the region, and is willing to explore more cooperation with the ACC and AKC in the related fields. As ASEAN will formulate its post-2025 action plan for community building next year, the AJC looks forward to taking over the rotating chairmanship of the Tripartite mechanism and striking closer cooperation with the ACC and AKC in the purpose of injecting new impetus into the APT cooperation.
     Kim Jae-sin stressed that the Tripartite mechanism serves as a beneficial platform for the Centers to share each other’s best practice and brainstorm for future cooperation, which well defines the common commitment of the Centers to enhance the APT cooperation. Over the past few years, thanks to the vigorous growth of ASEAN’s relations respectively with ROK, China and Japan, the APT cooperation has been gaining much of its headway. The ROK and ASEAN have just established the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This year also marks the 15th establishment anniversary of the AKC. A variety of commemorative activities in such fields as trade and people-to-people exchanges have been staged. Against this backdrop, the AKC is willing to strengthen cooperation with the ACC and AJC in more areas such as digital transformation and clean energy in order to make the APT cooperation stronger and richer.

     The Meeting witnessed the three Centers taking stock of their achievements in 2024,  discussing their future plans in 2025 and  sharing best practice in project planning and implementation. All parties agreed that, with practical cooperation and people-to-people exchanges being the priorities, mutual learning and collaboration among the Centers should be conducted for the further advancement of cooperation in East Asia.

     A separate session was held immediately after the Meeting to invite Deputy Secretary General Zushi Shuji of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) based in Seoul to brief the Meeting on the mandate and operation of the TCS. He said that, after a four-year hiatus, the China-Japan-Korea Summit successfully resumed its ninth session, which chartered the course for the future development of the CJK cooperation. He stressed that the CJK cooperation should be expanded to a wider scope with active involvement of the APT cooperation, so as to add more strength to East Asia cooperation. The TCS has developed fruitful engagement with the ACC, AJC and AKC and looks forward to further strengthening communication and collaboration with the Centers in such areas of common interests as youth development and education.