China, Japan and South Korea signed an historic document yesterday to promote their tripartite cooperation in regional and international affairs.

The document was signed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean Pre-sident Roh Moo-hyun in Bali, Indonesia.

"We were convinced that advancing and deepening the tripartite cooperation will not only serve to further promote the stable development of bilateral relations," but also contribute to peace, stability and prosperity throughout East Asia, the document said.

Wen, Koizumi and Roh also held the fifth meeting of the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean leaders, a mechanism to discuss cooperation among the three East Asian coun-tries and to deal with their relations with ASEAN.

During the three-nation meeting, Wen proposed that a Tripartite Committee of China, Japan and South Korea be established as soon as possible, and that the establish-ment of a China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Area be further studied.

Wen said that a good and solid foundation has been laid for China, Japan and South Korea to further boost their cooperation.

The chinese premier listed areas of increasing cooperation, including trade, the information industry, environmental protection, human resources and culture. He also mentioned their cooperation in preventing and treating severe acute respiratory syndrome, which opened a new cooperation area - public health.

Speaking after the meeting, Wen described the joint declaration as a document of great importance in the history of Northeast Asian coopera-tion and of the relations between the three countries.

It marks that the cooperation between the three has entered a new stage, Wen stressed.

He said China will implement what were agreed upon at this meeting according to the joint declaration of the three countries.

"I hope when we meet again next year, the tripartite cooperation will achieve new development," he said.

Wen proposed holding a seminar in China next year on China's "Revitalizing the Northeast" strategy and on Northeast Asian cooperation.