Reuters-South Korea Japan China agree to hold summit at earliest convenient time
September 26, 2023 4 min 708 words
这则报道关于韩国、日本和中国三国外交高级官员达成协议，计划在“最早方便的时间”举行峰会。这是一个重要的发展，但也需要谨慎看待。 首先，这个协议表明三国认识到了在地区合作方面的重要性，尤其是在处理共同挑战和安全问题方面。然而，这也是为了缓解北京对韩国和日本加强合作的担忧，尤其是在解决历史遗留问题方面取得的进展。中国一直在积极寻求三边合作，以平衡美国在该地区的存在，这表明中国对地区稳定和发展有浓厚兴趣。 此外，中国总理通常都会出席这些三边峰会，这意味着这次峰会可能会有更高的政治影响力。而韩国还在推动习近平主席的独立访问，这进一步显示了各方对三边合作的认可。 最后，这个协议也突显了地区内外交关系的复杂性。虽然韩国和日本在一些领域加强了合作，但历史问题和其他争端仍然存在，需要谨慎处理。地区领导人需要确保这次峰会不仅仅是形式上的，而是真正能够促进地区稳定和合作的一步。 总的来说，这次三边峰会的计划是一个积极的迹象，表明各方愿意就共同关切的问题进行对话。然而，要实现实质性的合作，仍然需要解决许多复杂的问题，包括历史争端和地区安全挑战。希望各方能够充分利用这次机会，为亚太地区的和平与繁荣作出贡献。
Senior diplomats from South Korea, China and Japan agreed on Tuesday that their countries' leaders would meet at the "earliest convenient time", Seoul's foreign ministry said after a rare meeting aimed at kickstarting trilateral exchanges.
The three countries had agreed to hold a summit every year starting in 2008 to foster regional cooperation, but that initiative has been frayed by bilateral feuds and the COVID-19 pandemic. The last summit was in 2019.
Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement that specific dates remained under discussion and that the countries' foreign ministers would meet "in a couple of months".
South Korea is this year's host for three-way meetings and has proposed a summit in late December, Japanese broadcaster TBS reported.
Japan's foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, said the three countries share the need to restart high-level talks, including summits, "as soon as possible".
"I believe it is very valuable to discuss the various challenges the region faces," she told a briefing in Tokyo.
The latest meeting was seen partly intended to assuage Beijing's concerns over the two U.S. allies' tightening cooperation after Seoul and Tokyo agreed this year to end legal, diplomatic and trade disputes over issues dating to Japan's 1910-45 occupation of Korea.
"We unanimously believe that carrying out cooperation is in the common interests of the three parties," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday. "We should work together to strengthen practical cooperation ... and make new contributions to regional peace, stability, and prosperity."
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have taken steps to mend ties and in August held a historic trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, where the three vowed to boost cooperation, including on defence and economic security.
A senior South Korean official said China has been proactive in seeking trilateral cooperation and arranging meetings since bilateral ties soured over the deployment in 2017 of a U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea.
"I'm sure there should be some discomfort on their side regarding our increasingly close trilateral security partnerships with the United States and Japan," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. "There seems to be a view there that they need to properly manage bilateral ties with us, as they saw how their THAAD responses backfired and fuelled anti-China sentiment to serious levels."
Beijing will most likely look to leverage trilateral trade ties to counterbalance the U.S. friend-shoring strategy, promote people-to-people exchanges, and enhance communication and dialogue with Seoul and Tokyo on security and defence matters, said Tong Zhao, senior fellow at the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Japan and South Korea have an interest in avoiding conflicts and maintaining a stable security relationship with China, and Beijing's assistance in slowing down, if not halting, North Korea's extensive nuclear development program, he added.
"These shared interests open up new avenues for strategic communication, confidence-building, and measures to prevent crises," Zhao said.
China's premier has traditionally attended the trilateral summits, and South Korea is also pushing for a separate visit by President Xi Jinping.
The latest meeting involved South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won, Japanese Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi, and Nong Rong, China's assistant minister of foreign affairs.