Reuters-Top diplomats of China Japan SKorea seek to boost three-way ties
November 26, 2023 4 min 718 words
这篇报道呈现了中国、日本和韩国外长在釜山会晤，试图重新启动这三个亚洲邻国之间的合作，为三国领导人的峰会铺平道路。尽管中美关系得到修复，包括本月习近平和乔·拜登的峰会，但中国担心华盛顿及其关键地区盟友正在加强他们的三方合作。 从2008年开始，北京、首尔和东京同意举行年度峰会以促进外交和经济交流，但双边争端和新冠大流行中断了计划，三国领导人上次会晤是在2019年。这次外长会晤是自2019年以来的首次，旨在在9月份的协议后为三方峰会铺平道路。 韩国外长朴晋表示希望就朝鲜问题展开深入讨论，寻求在人员交流、气候变化、贸易和经济等问题上取得“实际成果”。尽管有合作意愿，但一些敏感问题仍悬而未决，如日本对韩国慰安妇判决的反感以及中美关于半导体等贸易争端的紧张局势。这次会晤为改善亚洲地区稳定局势迈出了一步，但关键问题仍需解决。
The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea met in the port city of Busan on Sunday, seeking to restart co-operation among the Asian neighbours and pave the way for a summit of their three leaders.
Even as China and the United States mend frayed ties, including a summit this month of their leaders Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, Beijing is concerned that Washington and its key regional allies are strengthening their three-way partnership.
Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo had agreed on annual summits from 2008 to bolster diplomatic and economic exchanges, but two-way rows and the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the plan, with the three leaders last meeting in 2019.
The three top diplomats met in Busan for their first such meeting since 2019, after officials of the three countries had agreed in September to arrange a trilateral summit at the "earliest convenient time".
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin said he hoped to hold in-depth discussions on North Korean issues, seeking a "practical outcome" on issues such as people-to-people exchanges, climate change and trade and economy.
"Above all, it is important to further institutionalise trilateral cooperation so that it will develop into a stable and sustainable system," Park told the meeting.
The officials would work to ensure the summit of the leaders of the three nations was held as soon as possible, he added.
Park met separately with his counterparts, Japan's Yoko Kamikawa and China's Wang Yi, on Sunday.
Park and Kamikawa condemned North Korea's launch last week of its first spy satellite and agreed to boost responses to arms deals between Pyongyang and Moscow, Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Marring the co-operative tone, Kamikawa described as "extremely regrettable" a South Korean court's order for Japan to compensate a group of women forced to work in its wartime brothels and asked Seoul to take appropriate measures, Japan's Kyodo news agency said.
Beijing's foreign ministry said Wang warned Park not to politicise economic and technology issues, amid China-U.S. tension over semiconductors and other trade disputes.
Kamikawa met Wang on Saturday and expressed hopes for security dialogue between Tokyo and Beijing "in the near future".
Wang highlighted the need for both sides to ensure they "do not pose a threat" to each another and respect the legitimate concerns of both, China's foreign ministry said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have moved to mend ties frayed by history and trade feuds, and held a historic three-way summit in August with Biden.
In July, Wang warned that U.S. efforts to strengthen ties with Seoul and Tokyo could fan regional tension and spark confrontation.