bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Lee Jeong-ho

China promised on Wednesday to accelerate free-trade negotiations with South Korea and Japan after offering to help mediate the bitter trade conflict between Tokyo and Seoul.
The offer was made at the annual trilateral meeting between the countries, with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi urging Tokyo and Seoul to resolve their confrontation through dialogue.
Wang met his South Korean and Japanese counterparts Kang Kyung-wha and Taro Kono at Gubei Water Town near the Great Wall in Beijing at the start of three-day summit the previous day.
Beijing is using the platform to position itself as well-placed to help settle the dispute in line with its emphasis on upholding multilateralism in contrast with the increasingly protectionist stance taken by the US under Donald Trump.




Beijing has also suggested that the three countries could work together on investment or development projects in third countries.
There has so far been no word on whether the Japanese or South Koreans will take up China’s offer of mediation.
The escalating confrontation prompted by a dispute about Japan’s colonial legacy, also comes at a time when the possible deployment of US intermediate-range missiles in South Korea and Japan further complicates relations.
China recently threatened to take unspecified countermeasures if its two neighbours allowed the US to base the weapons on their territory.
“Conflicts among the three countries should be resolved in a constructive manner … via dialogue and cooperation,” Wang said during the opening speech at the trilateral meeting.
South Korean asset manager launches patriotic equity fund to cash in on Japan trade spat
“China will expand its cooperation with South Korea and Japan, and defend its principles of multilateralism and free trade … Relations among the three countries must be based on trust and cooperation, and the three should have honest dialogues to deepen that trust,” Wang said.
Kono said Japan and South Korea face various difficulties, but that should not stop the three nations from cooperating, while Kang said the three sides prospered based on free, fair and norm-based multilateral trade.
The three countries vowed to further develop their regional cooperation and work together to boost common prosperity – but whilst Wang and Kang said facing up to the past would be the foundation of that cooperation, Kono put emphasis on the future.
“For the next generations, future-oriented practical cooperation should be progressed step by step,” he said.

Earlier this month, Japan said it would remove South Korea from its “white list” of countries with preferential trade status. The measure becomes effective next week.
The seeds of the trade row lie in a dispute between Seoul and Tokyo over the legacy of Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.
Tokyo, which believes it settled all necessary compensation under a treaty signed in 1965, has been angered by a South Korean court’s recent order that Japanese firms must compensate wartime victims of forced labour, whilst Seoul believes that a victim’s right to file an individual claim has not expired.
Kono on Wednesday avoided mentioning free trade – but instead vowed to work together with the Asian neighbours under the trilateral platform.
He said this cooperation should not stop despite any bilateral problems.
“Next-generation exchange projects in three countries are also in mind. We hope to discuss future-oriented partnerships and regional affairs, including North Korea.”
China may try to ‘play active role’ in defusing tensions between Japan and South Korea
Kono’s comments came as its trade dispute with Seoul spills over the security realm.
In response to Tokyo’s economic measures, Seoul has also warned that it may reconsider whether to renew a three-way intelligence-sharing pact with the US, which provides a crucial framework for coping with North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
In a meeting with Kang on Tuesday, Wang said China was paying close attention to the conflict between Seoul and Tokyo, and was willing to play a role “if there is anything they can do”, a South Korean official told reporters.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said Wang had called for the three countries to jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade.
Trilateral trade between the three countries has increased from US$130 billion to US$720 billion over the past two decades.
According to the World Bank the three Asian countries’ Gross Domestic Product accounted for almost a quarter of global economic production last year.


‘Shameful’ Japanese tourists detained in China over Great Wall prank

Don’t use China as a hedge against US, Beijing’s envoy warns Japan

Wang Yi offers stability to world at time of growing uncertainty

Beijing renews warning to Tokyo: don’t stir up trouble with Taiwan

China-Japan relations

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi offers to help Japan and South Korea to settle trade dispute

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shakes hands with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono. Photo: Ap

People take part in a rally in Seoul on July 27, 2019, calling for a boycott of Japan-made products in response to Tokyo's tightening of export controls on South Korea. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gestures to his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha at a press conference with their Japanese counterpart Taro Kono. Photo: AP

China pushes RCEP regional pact amid US trade war, Japan-Korea spat

Shipping containers at South Korea’s Busan Port Terminal. A trade dispute between South Korea and Japan could affect talks between 16 countries in Beijing in the latest round of negotiations for a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Photo: Bloomberg

South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (L) and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono (R) sit across from each other during their meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting in Bangkok on August 1, 2019. - South Korea warned Japan on August 1 that it would be forced to review security cooperation between the two key US allies if Tokyo pushes ahead with plans to remove Seoul from its "white list" of trusted trade partners. (Photo by YONHAP / YONHAP / AFP) / - South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT NO ARCHIVES RESTRICTED TO SUBSCRIPTION USE

China and Japan revive ‘big picture’ vice-ministerial dialogue after seven years

China and Japan will resume a long-suspended dialogue this week. Photo: Reuters

Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba listens to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (not pictured) during their meeting at the Zhongnanhai Leadership Compound in Beijing, China August 29, 2018. How Hwee Young/Pool via REUTERS

(181108) -- GENEVA, Nov. 8, 2018 (Xinhua) -- China's Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng speaks to reporters during an interview in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 6, 2018. Le Yucheng said that China's perspective on human rights has been widely understood, recognized and supported. China's human rights record was examined for the third time by the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review mechanism here on Tuesday, following the previous two reviews in 2009 and 2013, respectively. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan) (zxj)

Foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea to meet amid strained ties

(From left) Foreign ministers Taro Kono, Kang Kyung-wha and Wang Yi attend the Asean meeting in Bangkok earlier this month. They will hold talks in Beijing from Tuesday to Thursday. Photo: AP

Kim Sung-joo, bottom center, a victim of Japan's forced labor, speaks upon her arrival at the Supreme Court in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. South Korea's top court ordered a Japanese company to compensate 10 Koreans for forced labor during Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

How could China hit back if Japan or South Korea sign up to US missile plan?

Seoul felt China’s economic might in a dispute over a US anti-missile system in South Korea. Photo: AP

FILE PHOTO: A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency/Handout via Reuters/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

News

China

Diplomacy


Beijing uses three-way summit to present itself as well-placed to resolve conflict between its East Asian neighbours
Tokyo is planning to remove its former colony’s preferential trade status in a row prompted by a court ruling over compensation for forced labour victims



Wang welcomes counterparts to Beijing for annual three-way summit and says China is willing to help resolve dispute.


Legacy of war in Asia

South Korea

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi offers to help Japan and South Korea to settle trade dispute

Beijing uses three-way summit to present itself as well-placed to resolve conflict between its East Asian neighbours Tokyo is planning to remove its former colony’s preferential trade status in a row prompted by a court ruling over compensation for forced labour victims

Beijing uses three-way summit to present itself as well-placed to resolve conflict between its East Asian neighbours

Tokyo is planning to remove its former colony’s preferential trade status in a row prompted by a court ruling over compensation for forced labour victims