Korea, China, Japan agree to invest in each other’s state bonds

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea, China and Japan agreed Thursday to invest in each other’s government bonds, reaffirming their commitment to stabilizing the regional financial and currency markets, government officials said.

“We agreed to promote the investment by the foreign reserve authorities in one another’s government bonds, further strengthening our cooperation,” the financial ministers and central bank governors from the three nations said in a joint statement.

“We agreed to have working level officials of the three countries further discuss the methods and procedures of the cooperation.”

The officials were in Manila this week to attend the ministerial and central bankers’ meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus three Northeastern Asian countries ― South Korea, China and Japan.

South Korea, China and Japan separately held the 12th Trilateral Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting among themselves earlier on Thursday, with their respective top officials exchanging views on various issues, including the current macroeconomic situations and regional financial cooperation.

Those countries have also declared that they are committed to continuously implementing appropriate macroeconomic policies, including promoting fiscal soundness, expanding domestic demand, increasing employment and accelerating structural reforms.

As part of their efforts to strengthen trilateral financial cooperation, the three Asian countries enlarged their currency swaps last year.