Abstract: Before the outbreak of COVID19, East Asian regional economic cooperation has begun the transformation from “East Asia” cooperation to “PanEast Asia” cooperation, from “shallow integration” to “deep integration”, and from “ASEAN dominance” to the weakening of ASEANs position. COVID19 has not only changed the external environment for the development of East Asia, but also changed the mode of interaction among countries in the region, thus accelerating the transformation process of East Asian regional economic cooperation. In order to achieve economic recovery in East Asia as soon as possible, stabilize and upgrade East Asian production networks, and respond to global market risks, China and Japan should deepen economic and trade cooperation. However, Japans continuously strengthening “dualface” policy toward China has become a major constraint to the deepening of cooperation between the two countries. Under the premise of considering both the necessity and the constraints of cooperation, China and Japan should further expand the intersection of interests and fully tap the potential of cooperation in the areas of ChinaJapanKorea FTA negotiations, digital economic cooperation, and thirdparty market cooperation.

Key words: COVID-19, East Asian regional economic cooperation, deep transformation