China, Japan and South Korea ended a sixth round of talks for a trilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in late November in Tokyo.

The talks, launched two years ago, were originally planned to be finalized by the end of this year, but a variety of factors have brought the negotiations to an impasse and an agreement will probably be postponed for a year.

Economic and technical issues partly account for the impasse in the talks. For instance, the focus of the latest round of negotiations was whether the three sides could agree on setting a liberalization target that can indicate the ratio of zero-tariff commodities. China and South Korea proposed a target based on their consensus, but the Japanese side turned it down, saying the ratio was too low.

In addition, reluctance from the leadership is also an important reason for the stalled process. To clinch a deal on such significant three-way negotiations requires the willingness of senior officials and even top leadership, but due to widely known reasons in recent years the heads of the three countries have only met on rare occasions.

Moreover, Japan's rejection of the Chinese-South Korean proposal indicates that the ongoing negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, of which Japan is a participant, may have affected Tokyo's assessment of the trilateral FTA's importance.

As the three powers in East Asia, the total GDP of China, Japan and South Korea exceed $15 trillion, which accounts for 20 percent of world GDP and 90 percent of that of the region, surpassing that of the EU. But the trade volume between the three countries constitutes less than 20 percent of their total foreign trade.

A China-Japan-South Korea FTA, if launched, will enable the free flow of cargo, personnel and capital, and facilitate the three countries' industrial adjustment and economic development. It will bring massive trade growth, optimize and upgrade their industrial structure, and gradually improve regional industrial division and efficiency in resource allocation.

Under the current circumstances, China, Japan and South Korea are still some ways from an agreement on the FTA, but whatever difficulties there may be, it's just a matter of time before the three countries can seal the deal. They have far more agreements than differences.

An enthusiastic call for an FTA by the business community in the three countries will also push governments to move negotiations forward.

The world has witnessed waves of trade liberalization, investment facilitation and regional integration.

Among large areas worldwide, an FTA is only absent in the East Asian region. China and South Korea concluded substantive talks for a bilateral FTA on November 10 and this will help push ahead the trilateral FTA negotiations.

An FTA between China, Japan and South Korea will definitely have positive impact on their economic recovery, and the free exchange of cargo and services among the three countries will help them to enhance trust and to put aside disputes.

Several sectors are expected to benefit from establishing the trilateral FTA. On top of the list is business and trade, in particular e-commerce, which has been added to the latest round of negotiations.

The FTA may help bring a cross-border e-commerce market into existence.

There is also logistics and transportation. With the FTA there will be an increase in regional trade volume and ports in the three countries can be expected to benefit directly since trade among them is mainly carried out by sea. Bulk commodity exchange centers and cross-border e-commerce platforms will be set up in the comprehensively bonded zones and free trade areas in the three countries.

In addition, tourism, the cultural industry, and the financial sector will also be boosted by this trilateral FTA.

The author is chairman of the Economic Commission of China Democratic League. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn