SAPPORO (Kyodo) Telecommunications ministers from Japan, China and South Korea agreed at a meeting Monday to standardize next-generation information technologies, including wireless integrated circuit tags, and "intelligent" home appliances.
The ministers from the three countries also reached an accord on joint research and development of the new technologies in a bid to create "Asian standards" and eventually make them global standards, Japanese officials said.
"An alliance involving Japan, China and South Korea is extremely important for the three countries to play a leading role in the area of information technology in future years," Taro Aso, minister of public management, home affairs, posts and telecommunications, said at the outset of the meeting in Sapporo.
In their third annual meeting, the ministers also agreed to establish a working group to unify IC tag standards and jointly develop the product, the officials said.
Wireless IC tags, fitted with a tiny integrated circuit and an antenna, can transmit a great deal of information to a separate receiver. The tags can be used to track the production and distribution of foods and other products.
The three countries also plan to promote the standardization of home appliances that can be remotely controlled via the Internet, as well as fourth-generation mobile phones capable of high-speed, large-capacity data transmission, the officials said.
At the meeting, Japan proposed to help China reduce traffic congestion during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by transferring Japanese technology related to the Intelligent Transportation System, they said.
The new system consists of an advanced information and telecommunications network for users, roads and vehicles to reduce traffic jams and accidents.
Japan, China and South Korea held their first telecommunications ministers' meeting in Morocco in 2002. The second was in Cheju, South Korea, last September.