Chinese foreign minister likely to push free-trade deal when he visits Japan, South Korea

Wang Yi expected to meet Japanese prime minister and foreign minister in Tokyo next week, followed by his South Korean counterpart in Seoul

He may try to seize the momentum to speed up negotiations on a trilateral agreement, analyst says

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Tokyo next week. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:00pm, 20 Nov 2020Updated: 11:14pm, 20 Nov 2020

Pushing forward a trilateral free-trade agreement between Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul is likely to be a priority for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi when he visits Japan and South Korea next week, according to analysts.

Wang will meet new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi during his two-day trip to Tokyo starting Tuesday, Motegi said on Friday, according to Kyodo News.

He will travel to Seoul on Thursday and meet his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha to “discuss issues of mutual concern, including … the fight against Covid-19, the situation on the Korean peninsula and other regional and international issues”, Yonhap reported, citing a statement from the South Korean foreign ministry.

No further details were given of the Tokyo talks – the first high-level face-to-face meetings between the two nations since Suga took office in September after Shinzo Abe stepped down due to ill health.

Xi Jinping had been expected to visit Tokyo in April in what would have been the first Japan visit by a Chinese president since 2008, but the trip was postponed due to the pandemic.

The foreign minister’s trips come soon after 15 Asia-Pacific economies signed the world’s biggest free-trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), on Sunday.