Ｃｈｉｎａ－Ｊａｐａｎ－Ｋｏｒｅａ （ＲＯＫ） Ｃｕｌｔｕｒａｌ Ｅｘｃｈａｎｇｅ Ｆｏｒｕｍ Ｓｅｔ Ｕｐ

Liu Deyou， executive vice president of the China International Culture Association， Chen Yongchang， vice president of the China-Japan Friendship Association， and their party visited the Republic of Korea (ROK) and attended the meeting for the establishment of the China-Japan-Korea （ROK） Cultural Exchange Forum in Seoul from December 5 to 8， 2005. Kim Yong-woon， representative of the Korea (ROK)-Japan Cultural Exchange Council and famous mathematician， Park Sam-koo， president of Korea (ROK)-China Friendship Association， Choi Sung-hong， former ROK minister of foreign affairs and trade， Ikuo Hirayama， president of the Japan-China Friendship Association and representative of the Japan-Korea (ROK) Cultural Exchange Council (JKCEC)，and Shugo Matsuo， deputy representative of the JKCEC， attended the meeting.

Liu Deyou spoke on behalf of the Chinese side. He said， China， ROK and Japan are close and friendly neighbours across the sea. In the course of contact over many years， the people of the three countries have emulated and learned from each other and created the splendid oriental civilization together. Over the past many years， they have supported and cooperated with each other in their efforts to boost economic construction and social development and achieved remarkably progress， for which cultural exchange has played an irreplaceable role.

Liu Deyou noted， our region Asia is undergoing complicated and profound changes. Pursuing peace， development and cooperation has become the shared aspiration of all Asian peoples and is also where the future of all Asian countries lies. Asia is faced with historic opportunities as well as grave challenges in the process of its reinvigoration and development. Confronted with both opportunities and challenges， difficulties and hopes， how to build a harmonious Asia where countries coexist in amity politically， conduct equal-footed and mutually beneficial cooperation economically， trust one another with close coordination on security matters and learn from and complement each other culturally is a major task before all Asian governments and peoples. Enhancing cultural exchanges among China， ROK and Japan will surely deepen mutual understanding among our three peoples and nongovernmental friendly relations among the three countries， and at the same time contribute to peace and development of the region.

Liu Deyou put forward a 3-point proposal: 1， upholding the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to enhance the friendly sentiments among the peoples on the basis of mutual understanding， respect and trust and by adopting a correct attitude towards history and properly handling differences and problems; 2， conducting rich and colourful cultural exchanges by absorbing each other’s cultural achievements and concepts while respecting the diversity of cultures， religions and values in the region; 3， building mutual trust and understanding among the youth and children by vigorously carrying out exchanges among them so as to ensure the future orientation and development of state-to-state relations.

The aims and the rules of the forum and how it works were discussed and adopted at the meeting. It was decided at the meeting that the forum convenes once a year which is hosted in turn by the three sides and that the forum in 2006 will be held in China and the 2007 one in Japan. The participants at the meeting explored the ways for exchange， such as sponsoring youth and children summer camps， speech contests of the Chinese， Korean and Japanese languages， exhibition of national-class cultural relics， piano concert by youth of the three countries， football matches， pedestrians conference， jointly issuing stamps， etc.