“The three nations are major traders, and together accounted for 19.6 per cent of global gross domestic product and 18.5 per cent of exports in 2010, according to a feasibility study issued by their governments last year on the trade pact.”

““China is the biggest trade partner of both Japan and South Korea. A free-trade treaty could lift China’s GDP by up to 2.9 per cent, Japan’s by 0.5 per cent, and South Korea’s by 3.1 per cent, Xinhua said, in a commentary, without citing the basis for its estimates.”

China, Japan, S Korea to work towards free-trade pact