The Guardian-China Japan and South Korea agree talks to calm fears over US ties
September 26, 2023 3 min 591 words
这则报道揭示了中国、日本和韩国领导人计划召开三方会谈，旨在缓解中国对美国在该地区加强安全存在的担忧。这是一个重要的举措，因为在北韩核武器计划和中国军事活动等问题上，这三个国家在过去四年中的紧张局势不断升级。 首先，这表明这三个国家都意识到了维护地区和平与稳定的紧迫性，尤其是在美国加强其在该地区的军事存在之际。这反映出它们在共同应对地区安全挑战方面有共识，这是一个积极的信号。 另一方面，中国对美国与其两个东北亚盟友的紧密联系表示担忧，尤其是在美国派驻了大量军队。这可能反映出中国在该地区的地缘政治不断演变，以及它对军事同盟的警惕。 日本和韩国似乎已经克服了长期存在的历史纷争，这为三方会谈的重新开始提供了机会。这意味着它们可能更愿意共同合作，以解决地区内的挑战，包括应对北韩核计划。 最终，这三个国家占世界人口的20%和全球GDP的四分之一，因此它们的合作对于地区和全球的和平、稳定和繁荣至关重要。这一消息表明，它们愿意在共同利益的基础上改善彼此的关系，这对于地区的安全和繁荣是一个积极的迹象。 总的来说，这次三方会谈的举行为东亚地区的地缘政治局势提供了一丝希望，希望通过对话和合作来缓解紧张局势，实现共同繁荣。
The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea will hold three-way talks “as soon as possible” after a meeting intended to ease Chinese concerns over Washington’s stronger security presence in the region.
Official said on Tuesday that the three countries’ deputy foreign ministers had agreed to revive trilateral talks after a four-year hiatus during which tensions have risen over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme and Chinese military activity.
Lim Soo-suk, a spokesperson for South Korea’s foreign ministry, said the leaders’ summit would be held at the “earliest mutually convenient time”, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Japan’s foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, said the three countries shared 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.
China has expressed alarm over deepening ties between Washington and its two allies in north-east Asia, which are home to tens of thousands of US troops.
In August, Yoon, Kishida and Joe Biden hailed a “new chapter” in three-way security cooperation after a historical summit at Camp David.
China denounced the summit, saying it “opposes relevant countries forming various cliques and their practices of exacerbating confrontation and jeopardising other countries’ strategic security”. It was particularly angered by a reference in the Camp David statement to China’s “aggressive behaviour” in the South China Sea.
Washington has attempted to present a united regional front against Chinese military activity near Taiwan and North Korea’s development of powerful weapons of mass destruction.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said on Tuesday that Beijing would oppose the “wanton expansion of military alliances and the squeezing of the security space of other countries”, in what appeared to be a warning against any attempt to establish a Nato-like military alliance in the Asia-Pacific.
Forces from Japan, South Korea and the US have held joint military exercises in response to the threat from North Korea, while China – the North’s biggest aid donor and trading partner – has recently sent senior officials to attend military parades in Pyongyang.
Japan and South Korea have an interest in maintaining a stable security relationship with China, including its help addressing North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, according to Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“These shared interests open up new avenues for strategic communication, confidence-building, and measures to prevent crises,” Zhao said.
The prospects for a revival of formal talks between the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea have risen following a recent thaw in ties between Tokyo and Seoul.
South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, and his fellow conservative, the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, appear to have settled long-running rows over how much responsibility Japan should bear for its actions on the Korean peninsula before and during the second world war, including its use of “comfort women” and forced labour.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said cooperation between the three neighbours was essential to the “peace, stability, and prosperity of the world”, adding that together they accounted for 20% of the world’s population and a quarter of the world’s GDP.
In similarly conciliatory tones, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China, Japan and South Korea had a common interest in improving bilateral ties.
“We should work together to strengthen practical cooperation … and make new contributions to regional peace, stability, and prosperity,” Wang said on Tuesday.