China News Agency, Seoul, January 26th: Interview with Ou Boqian, Secretary General of the China-Japan-Korea Cooperation Secretariat: Resonating with the Times and Seeking the Road of Interoperability and Inclusion
Author Liu Xu Liu Jingni
The year 2022 is an important year for China-Japan-ROK cooperation. China and South Korea will soon celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and China and Japan will soon celebrate the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations.
As an important cooperation mechanism among the three countries, the China-Japan-Korea Cooperation Secretariat (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretariat") has also gone through a decade of history.
Recently, Ambassador Ou Boqian, Secretary-General of the China-Japan-Korea Cooperation Secretariat, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency, reviewed the staged achievements of the Secretariat in the past ten years, and emphasized that it will continue to resonate with the trend of the times, closely serve the purpose of cooperation between the three countries, and promote the cooperation between all walks of life, especially the Communication and friendship between youth.
Ambassador Ou Boqian, Secretary General of the China-Japan-Korea Cooperation Secretariat, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency.
Photo by Liu Xu
Standing at the "crossroads" of the times
In 1999, the leaders of China, Japan and the ROK met in the form of a breakfast meeting during the ASEAN and China-Japan-ROK (10+3) leaders' meeting, marking the official launch of the trilateral cooperation mechanism.
In 2010, the leaders of the three countries formally adopted the "2020 China-Japan-ROK Cooperation Outlook".
In September 2011, the China-Japan-Korea Cooperation Secretariat was officially established in Seoul, South Korea.
"In the past ten years, we have witnessed substantial progress and achievements in the cooperation between the three countries." Ou Boqian said that the secretariat has now developed into the most normalized, most institutionalized, most extensive cooperation area and most fruitful in Northeast Asia. It is also the most dynamic intergovernmental international organization.
Except for a few long-term tasks, the three countries have almost completed the forty-one specific goals set by their leaders.
Currently, the Secretariat is at the end of the previous decade and the beginning of a new decade.
Ou Boqian said that looking forward to the next decade, the secretariat will take the "China-Japan-ROK Cooperation Future Ten-Year Outlook" reached at the 8th China-Japan-ROK Leaders' Meeting in 2019 as the central goal of the new ten-year plan to deepen the three countries' multi-national cooperation. Field, all-round and in-depth strategic cooperation.
Specifically, the secretariat will strengthen the construction of three centers in the future. One is to build an intergovernmental cooperation coordination center to further implement the positive results achieved by the China-Japan-ROK ministerial meeting mechanism; the second is to build an information and data center to collect and publish information. Authoritative data on the cooperation of the three countries; thirdly, to build a people-to-people exchange center, especially to integrate on the basis of existing youth exchange programs, build brands and strengthen the agglomeration effect, further innovate development mechanisms, and promote regional peace and prosperity.
Responding to Challenges, Connecting and Inclusive Boosting Trilateral Cooperation
在丰硕的合作成果之外，中日韩三国也面临一系列共同挑战。但在欧渤芊看来，无论是新冠疫情带来的医疗卫生领域挑战，抑或是少子老龄化社会背后的社会治理难题，危机背后都孕育着三国合作的巨大潜力。
“三国合作二十多年的历史告诉我们，越是应对重大挑战和危机时，越应该选择合作，而不是独善其身。”三国合作脱胎于国家间的互通共融，经济方面，三国不仅在GDP、贸易总额、人口规模等指标上契合度高，还具备工业门类最齐全、生产链和供应链最完善的地区实力；人文方面，2018年时已提前两年完成领导人所制定的目标，即三国人员交往达3000万人次，后续亦会随着疫情好转，逐步扩大放宽相关交流；文化方面，具象地看，无论是饮食习惯还是语言文字，三国都存在共同点，抽象上来讲，东亚文化也具备高包容度的一致性，追求和而不同、和合共生等文化价值。
在新时代的挑战下，互通共融仍然是三国的“破题”之道。欧渤芊表示，未来秘书处将努力达成三领域互通，首先，着眼于后疫情时代下《区域全面经济伙伴关系协定》落地的大背景，以数字经济与绿色经济为重点，稳定三国生产链和供应链合作；其次，推动三国共同应对少子老龄化社会和应对大规模传染性疾病两大社会治理挑战，在交流经验与信息基础上建立预警-研制-治疗机制；第三，则是在条件允许下继续推动人员交往，打通三国文化交流路径。
和合共生，青年交流展现新作为
互通与共融为三国合作不断向前发展提供了重要基础。但目前，三国深度合作仍面临认知偏差等挑战。
欧渤芊坦言，当前三国民众，尤其是年轻人间好感度较低，一是受疫情影响，面对面交流机会少；二是网络时代中，各类片面化碎片化信息易加剧共识撕裂，阻断不同社群族群间的有效沟通；三是当代年轻人因压力大，易将互联网视作情绪化表达的匿名墙。
针对上述挑战，欧渤芊认为，首要的解决方法仍是通过政府立法，完善谣言处理机制等手段，但与此同时，人文交流沟通等软性手段仍是消除误解隔阂、加深彼此了解的重要途径。
Ou Boqian emphasized that the youth are the most active and vigorous force in the whole society, and it is extremely important to promote the friendly exchanges between the youth of the three countries and release the huge potential of the youth group.
To this end, the Secretariat will hold a series of youth exchange activities as an important starting point in 2022, and make youth exchanges a new growth point for promoting regional sustainable development.
In February this year, the Secretariat will hold the first China-Japan-Korea Youth Speech Contest, with the theme of "Common Culture, Common Values and Common Challenges", to gather the creative opinions of young people on opportunities and challenges based on their own experiences.
Ou Boqian said that in the future, the Secretariat will continue to expand the field of communication, invite experts in architecture, art and other fields to interact with young people, and at the same time plan to carry out activities such as "Young Farmer Leaders Program" and "Young Scholars Forum" to create an all-round youth exchange platform. Call on more young people and the public to pay attention to and support the cooperation and development of the three countries.
"We hope to integrate all projects together to create a youth exchange platform. When everyone thinks of youth cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea, they will think of the Secretariat. This is our goal." (End)