China speaks of possible three-way FM talks with S. Korea, Japan

China said Friday it has discussed the possibility of resuming a long-stalled three-way meeting of top diplomats from South Korea and Japan, as the three nations move to seek ways to mend ties worsened by territorial disputes and history-related issues.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, however, gave a cautious response to the likelihood of resuming a trilateral summit among leaders of the three nations, urging Japan to make "positive efforts" before any such three-way summit can take place.

In Seoul on Thursday, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Kyung-soo and his Chinese and Japanese counterpart, Liu Zhenmin and Shinsuke Sugiyama, held their first three-way meeting in 10 months.

During the talks, Hua said, "We agree that we should maintain our cooperation and seek an early resolution to difficulties and challenges we face. They talked about the possibility of holding a foreign ministers' meeting."

South Korea, China and Japan had held a trilateral summit of their leaders since 2008, but such a summit was skipped last year, mainly because of an intensifying rivalry between Beijing and Tokyo. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have also failed to formally hold a bilateral meeting since they took office.

After the Thursday meeting, South Korea's foreign ministry said it would persuade China and Japan to work to hold a three-way summit.

Asked about China's stance on a trilateral summit, Hua replied, "We hope that Japan can show sincerity and make positive efforts to remove political stumbling blocks that impede our bilateral relations."

Diplomatic tensions between China and Japan run deep because of competing claims over islands in the East China Sea. Relations between Seoul and Tokyo also remain frayed over Japan's unrepentant attitude on its wartime atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of women by the Japanese military during World War II. (Yonhap)