(Yicai Global) Feb. 25 -- A united front against the COVID-19 epidemic between China, Japan and South Korea could accelerate economic and trade ties between the three nations, according to a director at Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Japan Research Center.

Promoting economic ties requires a range of communication channels, and the three countries now have the chance to pilot different methods in business and medicine, Ji Weidong told Yicai Global.

"This cooperation mode may lay the foundation for an economic coordination mechanism between the three countries," he said.

China, Japan and South Korea are the cores countries in the East Asian production network and they have close connections along the supply chain, added Zhuang Rui, deputy dean at the University of International Business and Economics' Institute of International Economy, in an exclusive interview with Yicai Global.

"Given their relationship along the value chain, the only thing China, Japan and South Korea can do is work together to make this relationship even closer," she said, adding that the three countries can "lower trade and investment barriers and market costs by signing a free trade agreement so their businesses are better able to cope with external circumstances."

South Korea has donated at least 2.2 million sets of medical protective equipment to China since the breakout, and its firms have donated more than CNY90 million (USD12.8 million) worth of money and goods, according to incomplete data sourced by Yicai Global. Local governments and companies in Japan have also helped, with every member of the ruling Liberal Democratic party donating JPY5,000 (USD445) from their monthly salary.

China has also given back now more cases are arising overseas, with Shenzhen-based BGI Genomics and the Shenzhen Mammoth Public Welfare Foundation donating nucleic acid testing kits for the novel coronavirus, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Japan said on Feb. 20.

Japan had reported 838 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Feb. 23, while the South Korean government issued its highest alert for an infectious disease, the first time since the H1N1 influenza in 2009. Confirmed cases in South Korea had reached 833 as of 4 p.m. yesterday.

Editors: Xu Wei, James Boynton