Reuters-South Korea China Japan top diplomats seek to boost trilateral cooperation
November 26, 2023 3 min 441 words
这次中韩日外长会议标志着亚洲三国试图重启合作，为三边峰会铺平道路。尽管中美关系正在修复，中国却担忧美国与其关键地区盟友强化三方合作。自2008年起，中日韩原计划每年举行峰会，但因双边分歧和疫情而一直受阻，最后一次三方领导人会议是在2019年。在会晤中，韩国外长与日本外长共同谴责朝鲜上周发射首颗间谍卫星，同意加强应对平壤与莫斯科之间的军火交易。然而，日本外长对韩国法院命令日本赔偿慰安妇的决定表示“极为遗憾”，呼吁韩国采取适当措施。在紧张关系中，中日外长则强调彼此需确保不构成威胁，尊重对方的合法关切。中韩日三国通过外交努力修复关系，但在历史和贸易问题上的分歧仍需妥善处理，合作仍面临考验。
The foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan meet in South Korea on Sunday, seeking to restart cooperation among the Asian neighbours and pave the way for a trilateral summit.
While China and the United States have been mending frayed ties, including a summit this month between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, Beijing is concerned that Washington and its key regional allies are strengthening their three-way partnership.
Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul had agreed to hold summits every year starting in 2008 to bolster diplomatic and economic exchanges, but the plan has been blocked by bilateral rows and the COVID-19 pandemic. Their last trilateral leaders' meeting was in 2019.
The three top diplomats are gathering in the port city of Busan, also the first such meeting since 2019. In September, senior officials from the three countries agreed to arrange a trilateral summit at the "earliest convenient time".
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met separately on Sunday morning with his Japanese counterparts Yoko Kamikawa and China's Wang Yi.
Park and Kamikawa condemned North Korea's launch last week of its first spy satellite and agreed to boost responses to arms transactions between Pyongyang and Moscow, Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Marring the cooperative tone, Kamikawa called an order by a South Korean court for Japan to compensate a group of women forced to work in Japanese wartime brothels "extremely regrettable" and requested the South Korean government take appropriate measures, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.
On Saturday, Kamikawa met Wang and expressed hopes for security dialogue between Tokyo and Beijing "in the near future". Wang highlighted the need for both sides to ensure that they "do not pose a threat to one another" and respect "each other's legitimate concerns", according to China's foreign ministry.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have taken steps to mend ties frayed by history and trade feuds, and held a historic trilateral summit in August with Biden.
Wang warned in July that U.S. efforts to strengthen relations with Seoul and Tokyo could raise regional tension and confrontation.