Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo diplomats hold talks

Senior diplomats from South Korea, China and Japan met in Seoul on Thursday for the first time in about 10 months in a bid to discuss ways to promote three-way cooperation.

The meeting brought together Seoul’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Lee Kyung-soo, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and their Japanese counterpart, Shinsuke Sugiyama, according to the foreign ministry.

The high-level talks, the first since November, dealt with various cooperative projects to be pursued in 2015, such as maritime cooperation and cyberspace security, it added.

The deputy foreign ministerial level meeting is part of major efforts to enhance trilateral cooperation, including meetings between their leaders and foreign ministers.

Lee stressed that the trilateral cooperation has an immense importance not only for the three countries, but also for peace and stability in the region as a whole.

“However, it is our grave concern that recent obstacles to the trilateral cooperation that have developed in the region has caused certain abnormality in its process affecting the operation and the future about the mechanism,” Lee said in his opening remarks.

He expressed hope that the talks can help “reinvigorate the trilateral cooperation, which has been somewhat stagnant” and become “a turning point” for the future of this cooperative mechanism.

His Japanese and Chinese counterparts also agreed on the importance of keeping the momentum for the three-way cooperation alive.

“The three countries’ cooperation seems to have become a major beacon to pave the way for future prosperity, not only for the region but also for the entire international community,” Sugiyama noted.

Liu said that the three countries have been cooperative in various areas, including the economy, trade and cultural exchanges over the past few years, but at the same time, the trilateral cooperation has seen “difficulties and setbacks.”

“Our cooperation has seen difficulties and setbacks, which affected the general atmosphere of trilateral cooperation,” he said, adding that the talks could help revive momentum for practical cooperation.

South Korea largely remains positive toward holding a trilateral summit and a foreign ministers’ meeting in hopes of increasing cooperation in the region. But Seoul currently remains cautious in having a bilateral summit with Japan due to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s move to deny its wartime history.

As territorial disputes and history issues have frayed relations between China and Japan, there is a high probability that the trilateral summit and the foreign ministers’ meeting will not be held this year, government sources said.

The trilateral summit, participated in by the South Korean president and the prime ministers of China and Japan, usually deals with non-political issues such as economic and cultural ones, but it has not been held since May 2012, mainly due to strained relations between Beijing and Tokyo.

Last year, the three countries skipped the summit and foreign ministers’ meeting though they held the meeting among senior diplomats in November.

Lee held bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart earlier Thursday, but the timing for his meeting with Sugiyama has yet to be decided, the ministry added. (Yonhap)