assured Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan

After several episodes of diplomatic tensions which seemed to question their project of economic rapprochement, the Japan, China and the Korea of the South found themselves, yesterday, in Tokyo for staging their regional solidarity after the March 11 disasters that struck the archipelago and announce an acceleration of negotiations for the signing of a free trade agreement between their three markets. "We decided to complete this year the preparatory joint studies of the representatives of the industry, officials and experts on the project of a free trade agreement" between our three countries, assured Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the head of the Government of China, Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, in a broadcast statement last night, at the end of their Summit. The three economic powers which, together, generate about 20 of the GDP of the planet, say want to "strengthen their cooperation to boost the dynamism of the region and be strong growth in Asia". Appearing particularly enthusiastic, Wen Jiabao suggested that formal negotiations might start in 2012.

If such a treaty is still very speculative and will require many years of negotiations, its evocation was seen yesterday as a positive sign by the experts who had attended in 2010 a hardening of diplomatic relations in the region. End of 2010, Beijing including proved very aggressive with Tokyo, following the clash in September of Chinese and Japanese vessels in a territorial area disputed by the two nations. China had even organized, without ever the admit, an embargo on its exports to the archipelago of rare, used by many Japanese industrialists.

Trying to forget these tensions, Wen Jiabao argued over his 48 hours in the country for regional relations "harmonious" and solidarity. Visit with Japanese and Korean counterparts in cities of the coast, it is is "entertained" before the cameras of products grown to a few tens of kilometres of the Fukushima Daiichi plant and announced that Beijing had lifted part of the restrictions on the import of Japanese agricultural products, put in place after the nuclear disaster to protect Chinese populations. The country should authorize the imports of fruit and vegetables from 2 of the 12 prefectures submitted to these restrictions in the next few days, said a Japanese official.

The Japanese Government, which must respond to the concerns of its industrial and its farmers pointing the suspicions against the "made in Japan", welcomed these concessions, although a spokesman for Naoto Kan, later explained that other actions should be made to protect Japanese exports against discriminatory measures non-scientific.

As further proof of its solidarity, Wen Jiabao has yet indicated that it would encourage its nationals to remain in the Japan and even, would for the first time, licenses to Japanese tourist agencies in China. In an unlikely meeting with the Japanese song stars, the Communist leader has also been suggested that the very popular Japanese group SMAP, which occupies the top of the charts of the archipelago, since the beginning of the 1990s would finally happen in China. Last year, the band boys had been forced to cancel several of his concerts in Shanghai when the Chinese authorities had stopped the sale of tickets for the group to protest against the maritime clash in September.