SEOUL, South Korea — Leaders of China and Japan arrived in Seoul to meet separately with South Korea’s president on Sunday, May 26, 2024, a day before they gather for their first trilateral meeting in more than four years.
No major announcement is expected from Monday’s trilateral South Korea-China-Japan meeting. But just resuming their highest-level, three-way talks is a good sign and suggests the three Asian neighbors are intent on improving their relations.
A trilateral leaders’ meeting was supposed to take place annually following their inaugural gathering in 2008. But the meeting has stalled since the last one in December 2019 in Chengdu, China because of the Covid-19 pandemic and complex ties among the three countries.
After their arrivals in Seoul on Sunday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are to hold bilateral talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to discuss ways to promote cooperation and other issues, according to South Korean officials. Li and Kishida are expected to meet bilaterally as well.
When Yoon, Li and Kishida meet for a trilateral session on Monday, they’ll discuss cooperation in six specific areas — people-to-people exchanges, climate change, trade, health issues, technology and disaster responses, according to South Korea’s presidential office.
Sensitive topics like North Korea’s nuclear program, China’s claim over self-governed Taiwan and territorial disputes in the South China Sea are not among the official agenda items. But some experts say North Korea’s nuclear program — which poses a major security threat to South Korea and Japan — will likely be discussed among the three leaders though it’s unclear whether and how much they would publicize the contents of their discussions.
The three neighbors are important trading partners to one another, and their cooperation is key to promoting regional peace and prosperity. They together make up about 25 percent of global gross domestic product. But the three countries have been repeatedly embroiled in bitter disputes over a range of historical and diplomatic issues originating from Japan’s wartime atrocities. China’s rise and a US push reinforce its Asian alliances have also significantly impacted their three-way ties in recent years. / AP