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The changing international situation this year has brought many uncertain factors to the steady development of China's textile industry economy. In this environment, it is more and more important to further strengthen the complementary textile trade and investment cooperation and exchange between China and neighboring countries. At the 8th China-South Korea-Japan Fiber Industry Cooperation Conference held in Xi'an on November 5, the heads and representatives of the China Textile Industry Federation, the Korea Fiber Industry Federation and the Japan Fiber Industry Alliance not only exchanged the development status of the textile industry in various countries, It also discussed and reached a consensus on topics such as trade and commerce, sustainable development, and fashion technology that are of general concern.

The development of trade and commerce has achieved remarkable results.

On the issue of further promoting trade and commerce, the participants expressed their strong desire to strengthen regional trade cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea. Sun Ruizhe, president of the China Textile Industry Federation, said that at present, the world's multi-polarization and economic globalization are developing in depth. China has been actively promoting healthy economic development with a more open attitude. From the reduction of tariffs on consumer goods to the holding of the first China International Import Expo, it shows that the Chinese government is constantly increasing its opening up. This provides development opportunities for the world fiber industry. According to Zhao Mingxia, vice president of the Industrial Economic Research Institute of the China Textile Industry Federation, since 2018, driven by the rebound in international market demand, China's textile industry exports have resumed growth, the growth rate of exports to Japan has rebounded steadily, and exports to South Korea have decreased. Driven by the appreciation of the renminbi and the upgrading of domestic demand, China's textile and apparel imports have achieved rapid growth, and the growth rate of imports from Japan and South Korea has been relatively stable. In recent years, the foreign investment of China's textile industry has continued to increase, and the manufacturing layout and resource allocation are parallel. From 2013 to 2017, the total foreign investment of China's textile industry was 8.81 billion billion US dollars, with an average annual growth rate of 18.9 percent, accounting for 7.6 percent of the foreign investment of China's manufacturing industry.

According to Jin Fuxing, director of the Korea Fiber Industry Federation, as of 2017, the total overseas investment in the Korean textile industry has 9 billion U.S. dollars. Especially since the TPP negotiations were officially launched in 2010, investment in Vietnam has continued to increase, and investment in China has shown a downward trend. It is South Korea's largest investment destination, accounting for 48% of total overseas investment. For China, in 2017, the import was US $2 billion and the export was US $6.2 billion. The export of textile raw materials and yarns increased, and the import of clothing and fabrics showed an increasing trend; for Japan, in 2017, the export was US $0.77 billion and the import was US $0.52 billion. The export of yarns and fabrics increased, and the import of fabrics also showed an increasing trend.

Shigehara, President of the Japan Fiber Industry Alliance, pointed out: "At present, the world is rapidly promoting wide-area economic integration, but at the same time protectionism is also on the rise. China, South Korea and Japan must be strongly aware of our advantage as the world's developed fiber industry and the world's largest fiber industry gathering place, and it is up to our fiber industry to verify the significance and effect of FTA/EPA, and actively promote the negotiation process."

Ueda, executive secretary and assistant to the president of the Japan Fiber Industry Alliance, introduced the measures implemented by the Japanese textile industry in response to the trade issues between China, Japan and South Korea. He said that the high-level liberalization in Asia achieved through the regional comprehensive economic partnership and the early signing of the FTA between China, Japan and South Korea has a positive effect on the development of the textile industry in the three countries. In terms of overseas investment, Japan's textile industry will increase its investment in ASEAN. The investment target will be expanded from clothing to industrial textiles, and the investment in Japan will continue to expand.

Increased attention to the topic of sustainable development

At this year's meeting, the participants paid great attention to the sustainable development of the textile industry in the future. Cheng Qihe, president of the Korea Fiber Industry Federation, mentioned that today's global textile and fashion industry focuses on the new technological revolution combined with big data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things in the field of sustainability and fashion. International brands emphasize the transparency of every link in the manufacturing process from yarn to finished products, and require extremely high pro-environmental manufacturing, corporate social responsibility, and an excellent working environment. Cheng Qihe pointed out that in the future, the textile industry should abandon the linear process of "design-manufacture-use-waste" and adopt the circular process of "design-manufacture-use-recycling. Therefore, in order to ensure global competitiveness in the field of "sustainability", China, South Korea and Japan should actively explore joint solutions.

Kim Yuqian, director of research and development department of South Korea's FITI Research Institute, introduced the implementation of Higg Index in South Korea. He explained that South Korea is considering the implementation of the Higg index, which links environmental management and chemical management plans currently used in industry. At the same time, South Korea is strengthening cooperation with international organizations and government agencies and expanding cooperation with service providers.

Yan Yan, director of the Social responsibility Office of the China Textile Industry Federation, said that the China Textile Federation attaches great importance to the environmental problems of the industry and focuses on energy conservation and emission reduction, cleaner production and comprehensive utilization of resources. In response to the global sustainable development goals (SDGs), the CSO took the lead in formulating the social responsibility development goals of the industry. In the future, China Textile will strengthen its efforts in implementing the sustainable development of the industry and preventing pollution.

Kamahara believes that with the increasing global attention to sustainable development issues, including the environment and safety issues of the fiber product market, the fiber industry of China, South Korea and Japan must work together to deal with it in order to promote the development of the fiber industry. At the same time, it is necessary to apply the latest technology to build a business model in the supply chain of fashion garments.

The development of fashion technology is in the ascendant

With the upgrading of China's consumer market, the demand for high-quality products is growing rapidly, which objectively drives the rapid improvement of the technology and fashion level of the industry. China's textile industry to "science and technology, fashion, green" as the focus, is accelerating the pace of transformation and upgrading. Sun Huaibin, vice president of the China Textile Industry Federation, said that in the face of many new challenges and new situations, China's textile industry will consolidate the foundation of fashion, build fashion brands and use fashion tools to create new textiles by applying new materials and expanding new applications. At the same time, we will deepen international cooperation in all directions and establish an international resource allocation and industrial layout system.

Du Yanbing, Deputy Secretary-General of the China National Garment Association and Director of the Ministry of Industry, introduced the application of digital technologies such as digital design, intelligent production, Internet of Things technology, big data & new retail in China's apparel industry, and proposed that China, Japan and South Korea will carry out technical exchanges and cooperation in the future Suggestions.

According to Shin Hee-chiu, Minister of the Second Division of the Korean Fashion Association, the current fourth industrial revolution is setting off a paradigm change in the fashion industry. The Korean fashion industry has also made some pioneering efforts in this industrial revolution, such as virtual fitting using augmented reality technology and model recommendation using artificial neural network technology.

Yoshinori Koji, assistant to the executive secretary of the Japan Fiber Industry Alliance, introduced that at present, the development of artificial intelligence has made great progress, which makes it possible to collect and analyze huge data that could not be achieved before, and it has also become an effective method to provide new added value and solutions. In the future, it may fundamentally bring changes to the fiber and fashion industries.