BEIJING — China introduced the negative-list approach for the first time for service trade and investment talks in the latest free trade agreement negotiation between the country and Republic of Korea (ROK), the Ministry of Commerce said on April 2.

The fourth round of the second phase of the Sino-ROK FTA talks was held in Beijing, aiming to create an easier service trade and investment environment for firms of the two countries, according to ministry.

The Sino-ROK FTA took effect in December 2015, and kicked off its second-phase talks in December 2017.

The two countries have reduced tariffs four times since 2015, with about 50 percent of bilateral trade having no tariffs imposed.

China is ROK’s largest trading partner, export market and import source country, while ROK is China’s third largest trading partner.