On June 1, the former Chinese ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong held a special lecture at the invitation of Weihai Import Chamber of Commerce. At the lecture, Qiu Guohong analyzed the current situation of trilateral cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea for the local foreign trade enterprises in Weihai with the theme of "Opportunities and Prospects of Economic and Trade Cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea in the Post-epidemic Era", believing that "the continuous acceleration of the cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea will be the general trend, and the prospects are overall promising."

Qiu Guohong, the former Chinese ambassador to South Korea, is currently the chief researcher of Northeast Asia affairs of Charhar Institute, which is a Chinese private think tank. He has been engaged in diplomatic work with Japan and South Korea for a long time, and has been responsible for South Asia affairs and foreign security work. He has successively served as deputy director of the Department of Asian Affairs, director of the Department of External Security Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, minister counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Japan, consul general with the rank of ambassador of the Chinese Embassy in Osaka, and Chinese ambassador to Nepal. He has been invited to give lectures at the Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C, the National Academy of Governance, Tsinghua University, Tongji University and many other academic research institutions to present hot and sensitive diplomatic issues.

Qiu Guohong said that the China-Japan-ROK cooperation mechanism is the most important multilateral cooperation mechanism in East Asia. Since its establishment 22 years ago, it has formed an all-round cooperation system with the meetings of the three countries' leaders as the core, 21 ministerial meetings as the mainstay and the Secretariat of China-Japan-ROK Cooperation as the support. The pragmatic cooperation covers nearly 30 fields, including economy and trade, transportation, information, customs, environment, science and technology, agriculture and forestry, and tourism. On the whole, China, Japan and South Korea have mutual needs in cooperation, and have made a smooth progress overall, which has not only provided an important momentum for their respective development, but also made a significant contribution to the peace, stability and economic development of the region. At the same time, due to historical and practical reasons, the relationship among China, Japan and South Korea has always been complex. Nevertheless, the cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea is fairly crucial to the peace and prosperity of the region and conforms to the common interests of the three countries.

As for the opportunities of economic and trade cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea in the "post-epidemic era", Qiu Guohong believed that China's dual cycle development strategy and the all-round opening-up measures represented by China International Import Expo would provide long-term strategic opportunities for China, Japan and South Korea to deepen the economic and trade cooperation. The RCEP, which is expected to come into effect within this year, and the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, in which the completion of negotiations is being accelerated, will provide strong legal and institutional guarantee for the long-term stable cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea in the "post-epidemic era". The health care, biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, energy conservation and environmental protection industries, which are growing against the trend during the epidemic period, will also provide new important impetus for China, Japan and South Korea to expand economic and trade cooperation in the "post- epidemic era".

According to Qiu Guohong, due to historical and practical reasons, advancing the cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea in the "post-epidemic era" will still face many challenges and difficulties. But generally speaking, in the coming period, to win the battle against the epidemic and ensure their own economic recovery is the greatest common divisor of interests of the three countries. Meanwhile, the three countries have extensive common interests in maintaining the multilateral trading system and coping with global challenges such as climate change. The continuous stepping forward for cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea will be the general trend, and the prospects are overall promising.

During the 13^th Five-Year Plan period, the total import and export volume of goods in Weihai has grown from 105.4 billion yuan in 2015 to nearly 170 billion yuan in 2020, an increase of about 60%. The countries along the line have gradually become the main foreign trade markets of the city, accounting for about 40.9% of the city's import and export volume; the imports and exports to Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other traditional markets have also maintained a rapid growth. The city's foreign trade has formed a diversified development pattern of laying focus on ASEAN, the Near and Middle East and other emerging markets and giving consideration to traditional markets in Europe, America, Japan and South Korea. Weihai has been approved as Shandong Provincial and national-level cross-border e-commerce integrated pilot zone successively, and is the second national-level integrated pilot zone in the province. By virtue of the policy overlay advantages of reform and pilot as the local economic cooperation demonstration zone of China-South Korea Free Trade Zone and the national cross-border e-commerce integrated pilot zone, Weihai has become a hub city of cross-border e-commerce linking Japan, South Korea, Central Asia and Europe. During the 13^th Five-Year Plan period, the export of cross-border e-commerce has ranked first in the province for five consecutive years.