China, Japan, South Korea focus on strengthening supply chain, youth ties: organizer

As the Trilateral Summit Meeting approaches, head of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) is calling for strengthened supply chain cooperation and expanded youth exchanges between China, Japan and South Korea.

TCS Secretary-General Lee Hee-sup, speaking on the sidelines of the 10th World Water Forum in Bali, said information sharing and people-to-people connections are key to addressing global challenges and solidifying regional ties.

"The supply and the industrial chains, the issue is very critical and a sensitive issue amongst the countries, so now as you know, the supply chains disruptions and reshuffling as it happens in the world. So now we need to cooperate closely with each other. First of all we need the information sharing over some of the supply chains including some of the swift information exchange through an alert system. So with that kind of information sharing system, in a kind of multi-layered mechanism of the information sharing, it's very important to the sense of cooperation of supply chains," he said.

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of cooperation among China, Japan, and South Korea.

Lee said the TCS has organized various youth programs, including ambassador and speech contest initiatives, as well as journalist exchanges, to facilitate greater connections among the next generation.

"At the beginning of this year, we conducted a survey for the three countries, 10,000 people, (asking them) what is the best word? So, the best word is the exchange, people-to-people exchange. As you know, more than three years of the corona pandemic, people-to-people exchange has not been possible. So the three countries' people realize the importance of face-to-face meetings or some kind of exchange. We conducted some various youth exchange programs, young ambassadors programs. That is with the CJK, China, Japan, Korea and the ASEAN students. We conducted a young speech contest in Xi'an in China. So we exchanged the journalistic exchange program," Lee said.

Leaders of China, Japan and South Korea will meet in Seoul on May 26-27 for their first trilateral meeting in more than four years. Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will attend the meeting.

China, Japan, South Korea focus on strengthening supply chain, youth ties: organizer

China, Japan, South Korea focus on strengthening supply chain, youth ties: organizer

China has made great efforts to accelerate global progress towards a cleaner and more beautiful world, and is willing to share its experience in desertification prevention with all parties, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman at a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.

Monday marks the 30th World Desertification and Drought Day. This year the theme is "United for Land. Our Legacy. Our Future."

Lin introduced China's progress in combating drought and desertification in response to a reporter's question.

"China's efforts have accelerated global progress towards a cleaner and more beautiful world. We are the first country in the world to achieve zero net land degradation and reduce both desertification and sandification, making important contribution to meeting the global goal of zero net land degradation by 2030. China's forest coverage ratio and forest stock volume have both increased for 40 consecutive years. China leads the world in terms of forest resource growth and afforestation area, and has contributed one fourth of the world's newly added green area," said Lin.

China earnestly fulfills its obligations under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). It is dedicated to promoting global desertification control process, continuously advances international cooperation in desertification control, and generously shares successfull experience in combating desertification with the world, said Lin.

"Desertification is a common global challenge, and hand-in-hand efforts are the only route to address it. China is willing to continuously share experience in drought and desertification prevention with all parties, enhance exchanges on sustainable land management, and make concerted efforts in building a beautiful homestead harmonizing humanity and nature," said Lin.

China willing to share experiences in desertification prevention: spokesman