Agencies
Tokyo
Foreign ministers from Japan, China and South Korea sought trilateral cooperation on common ground in areas like aging, declining births, natural disasters and the green economy at a meeting that took place at a time of growing tensions.
At a joint news conference after the talks, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said he, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and South Korea’s Cho Tae-yul agreed to promote mutual understanding and trust, while tackling shared and multi-generational concerns to gain wider support for trilateral cooperation.
Iwaya emphasized his concerns about North Korea’ s nuclear and missile development and cooperation with Russia as threats, and stressed the need to pursue the North’s full denuclearization under the UN Security Council resolutions.
Iwaya reiterated Japan’s condemnation of Russia’s war on Ukraine. He said there is no place in the world for unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, a subtle message about China’s growing assertiveness in the region.
Wang said China supports the formation of a mutual regional economy and proposed resuming talks on an economic framework for the three countries and promoting an expansion of the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP.
Wang said trilateral cooperation in areas including technology and climate exchange will “serve as key driving force for East Asian cooperation.” Saturday’s meeting focused on plans for a trilateral leaders’ summit later this year amid growing political and economic uncertainty at home and challenges from US President Donald Trump.
The three-way meetings are an accomplishment for Japan, which has historical and territorial disputes with both China and South Korea. Iwaya said he will accelerate efforts toward achieving a leaders’ summit in Japan later this year. Separately, delegations from Japan and China later Saturday held their first high-level economic dialogue since April 2019, attended by dozens of officials from finance, economy, transportation, environment, health and labour ministries. (Agencies)
