Souring ties in Northeast Asia cast shadow over trilateral summit
Preparations for a trilateral summit between China, Japan and South Korea face disarray as tensions rise between the northeast Asian neighbours.
Beijing reportedly cancelled a planned trip to Tokyo by assistant foreign minister Kong Xuanyou later this month as the Japanese side repeatedly protested against the activities of Chinese ships near disputed islands in the East China Sea, Japanese news outlet Asahi reported on Thursday.
Tensions between the two have risen sharply since last week as more than a dozen official Chinese ships accompanied hundreds of fishing boats in waters surrounding the disputed Japanese-controlled islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyus in China.
China’s ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, was summoned and handed a stern protest over the incidents.
Commenting on the spat, the United States said the uninhabited islets had been under Japanese administration, and fell within the scope of the 1960 US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.
We oppose any unilateral action that seeks to undermine Japan’s administration of the Senkakus
“We oppose any unilateral action that seeks to undermine Japan’s administration of the Senkakus,” Elizabeth Trudeau of the US Department of State said.
On Thursday, Japan’s coastguard rescued eight crew members of a Chinese trawler about 65km from the Diaoyus. The vessel sank after colliding with a Greek cargo ship. Another six on board were still missing.
The Chinese government expressed appreciation for the rescue, Japan’s foreign ministry said.
The two nations have been making preparations for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from China, Japan and South Korea in Tokyo this month.
Japan once hoped the foreign ministers’ dialogue could pave the way for a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at September’s G20 Summit in Hangzhou, but now that was looking increasingly unlikely, Asahi quoted a Japanese government official as saying.
Premier Li Keqiang is expected to attend a trilateral summit between the three nations in Japan later this year.
“Even if the leaders do meet at the G20, there will hardly be any progress on substantial matters,” Professor Jiang Ruiping of the China Foreign Affairs University said.
While the East China Sea disputes continue to stand between China and Japan, concerns over the deployment of an advanced US missile defence system in South Korea has also caused relations between Beijing and Seoul to plummet, further complicating the trilateral meeting.
Li Mingjiang, an associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of international studies in Singapore, said the security issues in Northeast Asia had prevented progress at the trilateral summit and working-level cooperation.
Negotiations for a trilateral free-trade agreement have gone through 10 rounds and reached in-depth technical questions, for instance. The agreement would be economically beneficial to all, but ultimately it would be a political decision made by each country’s leadership, Jiang said.
