China, South Korea, Japan summit ‘postponed’ amid missile shield row
Talks planned for next month will not go ahead, sources say, with Beijing’s anger over Seoul’s deployment of a missile defence shield among the reasons
A summit of top officials from China, South Korea and Japan has been postponed and will not be held next month as Tokyo had planned, according to diplomatic sources.
China’s reluctance to attend partly prompted by the prolonged dispute between Beijing and Seoul over the deployment of a US-developed anti-missile system on the Korean peninsula were blamed, the sources and Japanese media said on Thursday.
Tokyo had wanted to host the summit either between July 19 and 21 or July 24 and 26, but China replied it was “difficult” to attend during those dates, the Japanese news agency Kyodo News reported, citing diplomatic sources.
However, a South Korean diplomatic source told the South China Morning Post that deteriorating relations between China and Japan, which have long been stained by territorial disputes over islands in the East China Sea, were also a reason behind the postponement.
“The Japanese side said it was because of [the missile system], but as I understand Sino-Japanese relation was also one of the reasons,” the diplomat said.