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Kristin Huang

Despite tensions between Tokyo and Seoul, leaders from China, Japan and South Korea will meet in southwestern China for a summit next month, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday.
On the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Bangkok, Li told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the trilateral summit was needed for regional peace and stability, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The meeting would be held in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Japan’s Kyodo News quoted a senior Japanese official as saying.
Li and Abe also discussed regional affairs, including the East China Sea and North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, according to Kyodo.
The trilateral summit, designed to be hosted annually on a rotating basis by the three countries, has been suspended from time to time as ties have been strained by territorial and historical disputes.
Some observers had expected this year’s summit to be cancelled over bitter divisions between Japan and South Korea over wartime compensation and trade.
The tensions erupted late last year when a top South Korean court ordered Japanese firms to compensate victims for forced labour during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean peninsula between 1910-1945.
Relations were further strained when Japan denied preferential trade status for South Korean companies and South Korea took Japan off its own list of trusted trade partners.
But, in their first official one-on-one conversation in more than a year, Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed in Bangkok on Monday to resolve the dispute.




Japan’s ties with China also appear to be improving, with Li and Abe agreeing to step up preparations for a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Japan early next year.
Tokyo and Beijing have basically agreed that Xi will make the trip in the northern spring, with Abe inviting the Chinese head of state to come “when the cherry blossoms bloom”.
It follows Abe’s trip to Beijing in October last year, and Xi’s visit to Osaka in June for the Group of 20 summit and one-on-one talks with Abe.
But the complexity of ties between the three countries meant the meeting in Chengdu would be little more than symbolic, diplomatic observers said.
Lee Kyu-tae, a South Korean international relations expert and a distinguished professor at Jiaxing University in Zhejiang province, said the Japan-South Korea dispute would prevent progress.
“The mechanism was originally very good but the three countries did not make full use of it, and given the bitter quarrel between Tokyo and Seoul recently, it would be very hard for China to produce anything significant via the meeting this time,” Lee said.
Zhou Yongsheng, a Japanese affairs specialist at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, agreed, saying the meeting could only signal the improvement in relations between China and Japan.
“Beijing cannot help resolve the tensions between the two neighbours because these are structural problems. But I believe China will try to pursue deeper trade and economic cooperation during the meeting,” Zhou said.


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Shinzo Abe

Sichuan to host China-South Korea-Japan summit as tensions strain Tokyo-Seoul ties

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meet in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

Japan and South Korea agree to mend ties after leaders’ first talks in more than a year

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and his South Korean counterpart Lee Nak-yon in Tokyo on Thursday. Photo: Kyodo

epa05988196 Kang Kyung-hwa, the nominee for foreign minister, speaks to reporters as she heads to her office near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in downtown Seoul, South Korea, 25 May 2017. EPA/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT

Banners calling for a boycott of Japanese products are displayed inside the Suyu market in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Aug. 19, 2019. A widespread anti-Japanese boycott has gained ground in South Korea since Tokyo tightened its exports of materials used to manufacture semiconductors and display screens, key export items for South Korea. The sign reads: "The Suyu market will be the vanguard of the anti-Japanese boycott." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Will South Korea and Japan reconcile after PM’s visit for emperor’s enthronement?

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak Yon, who is attending Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony. Photo: Kyodo

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waits for the start of an EU-Asia Connectivity conference at the Charlemagne building in Brussels, Friday, Sept. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

FILE PHOTO: Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako greet well-wishers during their first public appearance at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan May 4, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

05 October 2019, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks during a ceremony marking the 13th World Korean Day. Photo: -/YNA/dpa

A rehearsal for an enthronement parade for Japanese Emperor Naruhito is held in Tokyo on Oct. 6, 2019. The government is considering postponing the parade, originally scheduled for Oct. 22, in view of the massive damage inflicted by last weekend's powerful typhoon that hit wide areas of Japan. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

News

China

Diplomacy


Chinese premier says meeting needed for regional peace and stability
But observers expect little progress from the gathering



Chinese premier says meeting needed for regional peace and stability but observers expect little progress from the gathering.


Li Keqiang

Moon Jae-in

China-Japan relations

Sichuan to host China-South Korea-Japan summit as tensions strain Tokyo-Seoul ties

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Chinese premier says meeting needed for regional peace and stability But observers expect little progress from the gathering

Chinese premier says meeting needed for regional peace and stability

But observers expect little progress from the gathering