China on Friday expressed patience in negotiations with the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan to establish a Free Trade Area in east Asia, saying that there is not a timetable for the FTA talks.

"I hope we could be a little faster, but we do not set a deadline," Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said at a press conference on the sidelines of the parliament annual session.??[More about the press conference]

Four rounds of talks over the China-ROK FTA have been held and the first round negotiation over the establishment of the China-ROK-Japan FTA will be held soon, according to the minister.

"We know any FTA negotiation is related to very important interests of different countries and it's difficult to set an exact timetable for the talks," Chen said.