Bilateral meeting on the occasion of the Incheon ADB General Assembly
“Reinforcement of people-to-people exchanges and supply chain cooperation between the two countries”
China Sends Deputy Ministers to Korea-China-Japan Ministerial Conference
The finance ministers of South Korea and Japan held a bilateral meeting for the first time in seven years and decided to hold a meeting between the finance ministers of the two countries, which had been suspended since 2016, in Japan within the year. At the finance ministers’ meeting of Korea, China and Japan, which was held face-to-face for the first time in four years, China’s finance minister (ministerial level), who was originally scheduled to attend, did not attend, and vice ministerial level came.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Chu Kyung-ho held a bilateral meeting with Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held in Songdo, Incheon on the 2nd. The meeting between the finance ministers of Korea and Japan has been held regularly since 2006, but the last meeting in August 2016 was suspended for nearly seven years. This is due to the strained relationship between the two countries due to the installation of a comfort woman statue in front of the Japanese Consulate General in 2017 and Japan’s export restrictions in 2019.
Deputy Prime Minister Chu said at the meeting that day, “The relationship between the two countries is facing a new turning point, such as the restoration of shuttle diplomacy between the leaders of Korea and Japan for the first time in 12 years. We need to develop this cooperation in the future,” he said. In response, Finance Minister Suzuki responded by saying, “I hope that exchanges will continue on a regular basis, leading to the development of both countries.” The Japanese government decided to send a finance minister (vice-minister level) to Korea early next month to prepare for a meeting of finance ministers between Korea and Japan.
Deputy Prime Minister Chu said, “It is necessary to further accelerate the recovery of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and the restoration and expansion of dialogue channels at the private and government level through additional flight numbers and expansion of future generation exchanges such as high school students and international students.” Cooperation between the financial authorities of the two countries should also be strengthened on global issues such as financial problems and supply chain instability.” It is said that the resumption of the Korea-Japan currency swap was not discussed at the meeting that day. The Korea-Japan currency swap began in 2001 and expanded to $70 billion in 2012, but was suspended in 2015.
Prior to the bilateral talks between Korea and Japan, a meeting between the finance ministers of Korea, China and Japan and the governors of the central banks was also held. The meeting was attended by Vice Premier Chu, Finance Minister Suzuki, and Chinese Finance Minister Wang Dongwei. In China, it was reported that Minister-level Finance Minister Liu Kun had initially decided to attend, but was replaced by Vice-Minister Wang Vice-Minister. At the ADB Annual Meeting held in Nadi, Fiji in 2019, the previous face-to-face meeting was attended by the Minister of Finance of China. Regarding this, some interpret that China may have expressed an uncomfortable planting in the wake of the ‘Washington Declaration’ announced at the recent Korea-US summit.
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Source: Donga
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