Japanese Yomiuri report… “Discussion expected to hold early Korea-China-Japan summit”
Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the 8th that Korea, China and Japan are making final adjustments to hold a foreign ministers’ meeting in Busan, Korea on the 26th.
The newspaper reported this, citing multiple diplomatic sources from Korea, China and Japan. The meeting will be attended by Foreign Minister Park Jin, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, and Chinese Communist Party Central Political Bureau member and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
This is the first foreign ministers’ meeting between Korea, China and Japan in about four years since August 2019. At this meeting, discussions are expected to take place regarding the early holding of the Korea-China-Japan summit.
With this meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries, there is also the possibility of bilateral talks between Korea and Japan, Korea and China, and China and Japan.
Yomiuri reported, “The meeting between the Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers is also being coordinated.”
However, “there are voices that expect high-level dialogue (between China and Japan) in the future, but the situation continues to make it impossible to predict improvement in relations due to the plethora of pending issues,” the newspaper reported.
The leaders of China and Japan are all scheduled to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit held in San Francisco from the 15th to the 17th of this month. There is also a movement to seek a China-Japan summit.
However, there are voices within Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party that say, “Even if the meeting is realized, it is unclear whether it will be directly related to resolving the issues (for both countries).”
After Japan discharged contaminated water (processed water, as the Japanese government calls it) from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean on August 24, China has strongly protested. Announced a ban on imports of seafood from Japan.
Conflict over the Senkaku Islands, an area of territorial dispute between China and Japan, continues. Japan is demanding the removal of marine research buoys installed by China in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the Senkakus.
Source: Donga
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