Why China’s G20 is the moment of truth for the Asian giants
Diplomats are pushing to ensure leaders of China, Japan and South Korea meet on the summit sidelines in Hanzhou. Succeed and great things beckon – fail and tensions are likely to fester
When the leaders of 20 of the world’s largest economies meet in Hangzhou (杭州), China, next month, political pundits, economic sages and newspaper columnists will leave no stone unturned in relaying, analysing and deciphering every last utterance that occurs over two days’ worth of meetings, debates and conferences.
But for those trying to grasp where relations between the leading Asian economies of China, Japan and South Korea are headed, just as important may be the meetings that fail to materialise, the things that are left unsaid.
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With each of the three countries investing great diplomatic effort in bringing their leaders together in a series of planned two-way meetings on the sidelines of the G20, the occasion could well be a tipping point for the countries’ delicate and complicated relationships.
Succeed, and a landmark three-way meeting beckons in Japan this year. Fail, and tensions are likely to fester. As Wang Sheng, a northeast Asia expert at Jilin University, puts it: “If the state leaders fail to meet, or their bilateral meetings don’t go well in Hangzhou, I’m afraid the trilateral meeting of the leaders later has no bright future.”
Hopes for a breakthrough between the three countries, that together account for a fifth of the world’s economy, were raised by the meeting of their foreign ministers in Tokyo on Wednesday. Together, they criticised a missile test by North Korea that day, reassured each other over the importance of cooperation for regional peace and vowed to push on with talks on a three-way free-trade agreement – talks that have already gone on for 10 rounds.