The foreign ministers of Japan, China and South Korea expressed their desire for trilateral cooperation on a common basis in areas such as aging, declining birth rates, natural disasters and the green economy at a meeting that took place amid rising tensions, UNN writes with reference to AP.
Details
At a joint press conference after the talks, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said that he, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and South Korean Minister Cho Tae-yul agreed to promote mutual understanding and trust, while addressing common and multigenerational challenges, in order to move towards broader support for trilateral cooperation.
Iwaya stressed his concern about North Korea's nuclear and missile development and cooperation with Russia as threats and stressed the need to seek full denuclearization of North Korea in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.
Iwaya reiterated Japan's condemnation of Russia's war with Ukraine. He said that there is no place in the world for unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, which is a subtle message about China's growing assertiveness in the region, the publication notes.
Wang said that China supports the formation of a common regional economy and proposed to resume negotiations on an economic framework for the three countries and promote the expansion of the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Wang said that trilateral cooperation in areas such as technology and climate "will serve as a key driving force for East Asian cooperation."
Saturday's meeting focused on plans to hold a trilateral summit of leaders later this year amid growing political and economic uncertainty at home and challenges from US President Donald Trump, the publication writes.
Trilateral meetings are an achievement for Japan, which has historical and territorial disputes with both China and South Korea. Iwaya said he would accelerate efforts to hold a leaders' summit in Japan later this year.
Separately, delegations from Japan and China held their first high-level economic dialogue later on Saturday since April 2019, attended by dozens of officials from the ministries of finance, economy, transport, environment, health and labor.
Expanding cooperation in new areas and strengthening communications are key to promoting comprehensive and mutually beneficial strategic relations between Japan and China, Wang said.
But now the global economy is facing serious changes as unilateralism and protectionism are accelerating, and the politicization of science and technology, as well as the expansion of national security, have become rampant, Wang said, as stated, "clearly criticizing Trump."
Iwaya later told reporters that Japan and China recognized progress in their mutually agreed process to lift China's ban on imports of Japanese seafood. Beijing banned Japanese seafood from August 2023, when discharges of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea began from the tsunami-affected Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.
Iwaya and Cho separately met and reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining communication to address bilateral issues, cooperate for the complete denuclearization of North Korea, and strengthen trilateral cooperation with the United States amid growing global uncertainty, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said.
Addition
Tokyo and Beijing agreed in December to improve relations despite their differences, including disputes over the territorial dispute in the East China Sea and military history.
