SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — China’s premier agreed Monday to revive trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan in facing common challenges but delivered an implicit rebuke to their expanding security cooperation with the United States.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with South Korean President Yun Seok-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul, the first such meeting between the two countries. Trilateral Meeting It’s been more than four years.
Many experts say that just the resumption of top-level annual meetings and agreement on the need to improve relations is a positive sign for cooperation among the three Northeast Asian neighbors as they face economic uncertainty due to war and instability around the world. But how dramatically this will boost cooperation remains to be seen, given the complex, long-standing issues facing the three nations.
At a joint press conference after the meeting, Premier Li said China was willing to cooperate with South Korea and Japan on economic issues, particularly supply chains and resuming talks on a tripartite free trade agreement.
Yoon said the three leaders agreed to promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges, build a secure supply chain network, and work together to address common environmental, health and other issues. Kishida said the three countries share a great responsibility for peace in the region, and Japan will chair the next tripartite summit.
But despite the apparently cordial tone of the meeting, Premier Li Keqiang expressed Chinese unease about moves by Japan and South Korea to strengthen security ties with the United States, which Beijing sees as an attempt to form a bloc to contain China.
“Sincere dialogue is necessary to further deepen trust and dispel doubts. We must uphold the spirit of strategic independence and maintain bilateral relations,” Premier Li Keqiang said at the start of his talks with Yun and Kishida. “We need to promote global multipolarity and oppose the formation of camps or blocs.”
China waries Japan plans to deploy 400 U.S. troops Tomahawk long-range cruise missile It will also allow repair and maintenance of U.S. warships in Japan to support operations in the Western Pacific. Expanded military exercises between South Korea, the United States and Japan have also sparked protests from China.
Trilateral Meeting The plans were also briefly overshadowed by North Korea’s sudden notification to Japan that it plans to launch a satellite by early next week, apparently aimed at putting North Korea’s second spy satellite into orbit.
The United Nations bans all satellite launches by North Korea, viewing them as phony tests of the country’s long-range missile technology. North Korea says it needs the spy satellites to better spy on South Korea and the United States and to improve its missiles’ precision strike capabilities.
Yoon called for tough international action if North Korea goes ahead with the launch. Kishida called on North Korea to abandon its satellite launch plans. But Ri made general comments about promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula through a political solution, without mentioning the launch plan.
South Korea, Japan and the United States have long urged China, North Korea’s main ally and economic conduit, to use its influence to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions. But China is suspected of avoiding full implementation of UN sanctions on North Korea and secretly sending aid to its impoverished, socialist neighbor to survive and continue to serve as a bulwark against U.S. influence on the Korean peninsula.
During his bilateral meeting with his counterpart Ri on Sunday, Yoon spoke about North Korea’s nuclear program and deepening military ties with Russia, and called on China to contribute to promoting peace on the Korean peninsula.
After his meeting with Li on Sunday, Foreign Minister Kishida told reporters that he expressed serious concerns about the situation in the South China Sea, Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in northwest China. He also said Japan was closely monitoring developments in the autonomous region of Taiwan.
Foreign Minister Kishida cited China’s military assertiveness in the South China Sea, its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, and its human rights violations against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Last week, China launched large-scale military drills around Taiwan, signaling its anger over the inauguration of Taiwan’s new president. I don’t accept that claim Taiwan is part of China.
On Monday, Li still did not directly respond to outside criticism of China’s actions in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.
“China, Japan and South Korea should properly handle sensitive issues and differences, take into consideration each other’s core interests and major concerns,” Li said, “and truly build true multilateralism.”
The three Asian countries together account for about 25 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and share close economic and cultural ties. However, relations between the three countries have been periodically strained by issues stemming from Japan’s wartime invasion. China’s ambitions for greater global influence and U.S. pressure to strengthen Asian alliances also threaten to undermine relations between the three Asian countries.
Trilateral meetings between China, South Korea and Japan were scheduled to be held annually since the first meeting in 2008. However, the meetings have been stalled since the last one in December 2019. Chengdu, China This is due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the often complicated relationship between the three countries.
Experts say all three countries want to improve relations. China is the largest trading partner of both South Korea and Japan. Analysts say China likely believes a stronger security relationship between South Korea, Japan and the United States is not in its national interest.
“Washington can rely on its allies in its diplomatic efforts with Beijing,” said Leif Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “The trilateral summit is aimed at reducing friction rather than reshaping geopolitics.”
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Wu reported from Bangkok. Associated Press Tokyo bureau writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
