In the first trilateral meeting since 2019, the neighbors sought common ground on trade and cultural exchange while tiptoeing around thorny security issues.
The leaders of South Korea and Japan on Monday sought to restore economic cooperation with China, their largest trading partner, after years of deteriorating relations, but their trilateral talks were overshadowed by rising tensions between China and the United States, Seoul and Tokyo’s most important military ally.
The trilateral meeting, which was attended by South Korean President Yun Seok-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the second highest-ranking official, was the first in four and a half years.
The talks focused mainly on areas where it is easier to find common ground, such as protecting supply chains, facilitating trade, and cooperating to address aging populations and emerging infectious diseases. The leaders tiptoed around sensitive regional security issues such as Taiwan and North Korea.
“The three countries agreed to expand practical cooperation so that their peoples can experience its benefits,” Mr. Yun said during a joint press conference with Messrs. Kishida and Lee, declaring 2025 and 2026 “years of cultural exchanges” between the three countries.
But in the hours before the meeting, North Korea helped to emphasize the major differences between the three neighbors. Pyongyang announced that it would launch a long-range rocket within nine days to put a military spy satellite into space. United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibit the country from launching such missiles because they use the same technology needed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.
North Korea’s increasingly aggressive military posture is a concern for South Korea and Japan. The North has also expanded its arms trade with Russia in defiance of UN sanctions, supplying artillery shells and missiles for Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine, according to US and South Korean officials. In response, Moscow has been accused of providing energy and technological assistance that could contribute to North Korea’s missile program.
South Korea and Japan have called on China, North Korea’s biggest benefactor, to use its economic clout to help curb Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. Until now, Beijing has been reluctant to use this leverage, viewing North Korea as a buffer against the U.S. military on the Korean Peninsula.
On Monday, both Mr. Yun and Mr. Kishida sharply criticized the North Korean plan to launch the satellite. But Mr. Li, who serves under Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, did not condemn North Korea, but merely called on all sides to “exercise restraint” and work toward a “political settlement.”
As the press conference in Seoul was winding down, 20 South Korean warplanes conducted air drills south of the inter-Korean border as a warning of “immediate and strong” retaliation for North Korea’s provocation.
China, Japan and South Korea have agreed to hold a trilateral meeting every year since 2008 to discuss regional cooperation. But the plan has often been disrupted by diplomatic disputes, and most recently by the pandemic. Monday’s meeting in Seoul was the ninth such meeting and the first since December 2019.
During the years-long hiatus, strategic competition between Washington and Beijing has intensified, which has also deteriorated relations between China and the two US allies. China has flexed its military muscle and expanded its territorial ambitions in the South China and East China Seas, while the United States, Japan, and South Korea have increased the number of joint military exercises and strengthened missile defense and other security cooperation.
China’s ties with the two U.S. allies have become so strained in recent years that analysts say the revival of the trilateral summit is an achievement in itself. But common interests compelled Beijing and its two neighbors to revive it.
Mr. Yun said on Monday that the three countries had agreed to hold regular summit meetings.
East Asia’s neighboring countries, which together account for more than a fifth of global economic output, need regional stability and cooperation, especially in supply chains, to recover from the post-pandemic economic downturn. While Japan and South Korea consider the United States their most important ally, hosting 80,000 U.S. troops, their leaders face pressure at home from businesses competing for better access to China.
China is betting that it can appease Japan and South Korea by offering them greater access to its market and reducing Washington’s influence. To this end, China has agreed to resume negotiations on a free trade agreement between the three neighbors, emphasizing increased economic cooperation as a means of maintaining regional peace and stability.
He portrayed the United States as meddling in Asian affairs, pressuring Japan and South Korea to form a bloc to curb China’s development. Washington has built a wall of restrictions to deny Beijing access to the latest semiconductors and is calling on allies such as Japan and South Korea to cooperate.
On Monday, Mr. Li indirectly criticized Washington, calling for a “multipolar” world order and opposing any attempts to create “blocs” and “politicize” trade issues.
In recent years, Japan and South Korea have grown closer, improving relations that have long been strained by historical disputes. They have also expanded trilateral military cooperation with the United States to deter North Korea and China.
Japan and South Korea have called on China to address concerns about the difficulties of doing business in China. Mr. Kishida called for the speedy release of Japanese citizens detained in China on suspicion of espionage.
During bilateral talks on Sunday, South Korea and China agreed to establish new channels to discuss security and supply chain cooperation, said Kim Tae-hyo, deputy director of national security in Mr. Yoon’s office.
Mr. Yoon’s policy of bringing South Korea closer to the United States has coincided with a sharp drop in South Korean exports to China. According to government data, this year the United States overtook China as South Korea’s largest export market for the first time in two decades.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/27/world/asia/china-japan-korea-trilateral.html
Nearly 21,000 applications have been filed in Kyiv region over the year of the e-Restoration program’s operation, and almost 65% of the victims have already received assistance, the press service of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration reports.
“In total, almost 21 thousand applications have already been submitted in Kyiv region over the year of the program’s operation. As of now, almost 11.3 thousand positive decisions have been made within the first stage – providing monetary compensation for current and major repairs – totaling more than UAH 1 billion 415 million. Work is also underway to process applications for housing purchase certificates. We have already approved 1,769 applications worth almost UAH 5.7 billion. The third stage is the provision of monetary compensation for the construction of new housing to replace the destroyed one. As part of this stage, 460 applications have already been approved for a total amount of over UAH 1 billion 379 million,” said Mykola Boyko, First Deputy Head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration, at a briefing.
As reported, the eRestoration program was launched in Ukraine on May 10, 2023, under which owners of damaged housing began receiving compensation of up to UAH 200,000 for repairs. These funds can be used to purchase construction materials, pay for construction work and services of contractors who have the appropriate codes for their work and whose vendors have applied for participation in the program through the Diia portal. In December, payments for major repairs of damaged residential property were launched – up to a maximum of UAH 350 thousand for an apartment and UAH 500 thousand for a private house. Starting January 1, 2024, Ukrainians who have repaired their homes at their own expense will be eligible to receive compensation for damaged housing.
On August 1, 2023, Diia started accepting applications for compensation for housing destroyed by the war. Compensation will be paid to individual owners of housing that was destroyed due to hostilities after February 24, 2022, cannot be restored and is located in the unoccupied territory and not in the area of active hostilities. On December 27, 2023, Diia started issuing housing certificates.
The shareholders of Forte Life Insurance Company (Kyiv) have decided to increase its authorized capital by UAH 7 million to UAH 24 million.
According to the company’s announcement in the NSSMC’s information disclosure system, the nominal value of one share is UAH 1 thousand, the placement price is UAH 4,541 thousand. The method of securities placement is without a public offer. It is noted that the placement of shares may lead to a change in the owner of a large stake (99.80% of the authorized capital), which at the time of the decision was Oksana Kuleshina.
As reported, Forte Life Insurance Company (formerly Insurance Union Life), registered in 2005, specializes in providing life insurance services.
In February 2021, the company announced that Astrum Ukraine LLC, which owns 99% of the shares of Forte Life Insurance Company (Kyiv), reduced its stake to 0%, and Oksana Kuleshina became the owner of this stake.
The Parliamentary Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning
has recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt in the second reading and as a whole the draft law on amendments to certain laws on expanding the powers of local governments to support the security and defense sector of Ukraine (No. 9559-d), the press service of the Verkhovna Rada’s apparatus reports.
The draft law proposes to amend the laws “On Local Self-Government in Ukraine” and “On Prevention of Corruption” to expand the powers of local governments to provide financial and material support to the security and defense sector during martial law or a state of emergency.
The draft law provides for empowering executive bodies of village, town and city councils to build, equip and maintain engineering and fortification structures.
According to the draft law, local authorities may approve local budgets and amend them, approve programs of socio-economic and cultural development, targeted programs on other local government issues, transfer funds in the form of intergovernmental transfers to the relevant local budgets in the event of temporary occupation of a territorial community and the failure to establish a military administration.
The draft law also provides for the possibility of appointing a village, town or city mayor to the position of head of the relevant military administration of the settlement(s) without dismissal. In addition, the draft law allows civil servants and local self-government officials who are on unpaid leave or in the event of downtime or suspension of their employment contract to be appointed to positions in other state and local government bodies, military administrations, and legal entities under public law.
The draft law also expands the organizational capacity of the leadership of regional and district councils under martial law in the event of a vacancy in the position of the chairman of such council.
The draft law also regulates the procedure for holding remote meetings of local self-government bodies.
The Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 9559-d as a basis on April 11.
In the first quarter of 2024, 86 thousand passenger cars were imported to Ukraine. Their total declared value amounted to $1.1 billion, and the state budget received UAH 11.1 billion for the import of these cars. For comparison, in the first quarter of 2023, 52 thousand cars were imported to Ukraine (67% less than in the first quarter of 2024) with a declared value of more than $705.8 million (61% less than in the first quarter of 2024) and UAH 7.4 billion was paid to the budget (49% less than in the first quarter of 2024).
Most of the cars were imported from Germany – 17.1 thousand cars, the United States – 14.5 thousand cars, and China – 9.1 thousand cars. The TOP-5 includes cars from Japan – 8.9 thousand cars and South Korea – 4.4 thousand cars. The top ten countries from which most cars were imported to Ukraine are closing: Slovakia – 4.2 thousand cars, France – 4.1 thousand cars, Mexico – 4 thousand cars, the United Kingdom – 3.7 thousand cars, and the Czech Republic – 3.7 thousand cars.
In terms of value, the largest imports of cars came from the United States – $211.2 million (UAH 2 billion was paid to the state budget), Germany – $168.7 million (more than UAH 2.1 billion was paid to the state budget), China – $138.2 million (the state budget received UAH 182.3 million).
The top 5 countries in terms of the declared value of imported cars are Japan – $133.6 million (the budget received almost UAH 1.8 billion) and Slovakia – $81.7 million (the state budget received UAH 788.4 million).
The top 10 countries in terms of the value of imported passenger cars are as follows: The United Kingdom – by $59.6 million (almost UAH 492 million was paid to the budget), Hungary – $53.2 million (the budget received over UAH 515.3 million), South Korea – $49.3 million (the budget received UAH 468.4 million), Poland – $40.2 million (over UAH 351.6 million was paid to the state budget) and Romania – $38.8 million (UAH 311.9 million was transferred to the budget of Ukraine).
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) has lowered its estimate of the potential harvest in 2024 by 1.5 million tons compared to the previous forecast – to 74.6 million tons of grains and oilseeds, the association’s press service reports.
According to the report, the current forecast is based on the average weather conditions over the past five years, so the improvement or deterioration of these conditions in spring and summer may make adjustments.
“The potential decline in the harvest in the new season is caused by both a reduction in sown areas (mainly under grain crops due to unfavorable price conditions on the world market and relatively expensive export logistics) and a somewhat dry period in May this year in a number of regions in the east and south of the country,” the UGA explained and added that under such conditions, exports in the 2024-2025 marketing year will amount to 43.5 million tons.
According to the forecast of the UGA, in the ending season, exports of grains and oilseeds may reach 53.2 million tons of grains and oilseeds.
The UGA forecasts the wheat harvest in 2024 at 19.1 million tons, which is 900 thousand tons less than the previous estimate (22 million tons in 2023). Potential wheat exports in 2024/2025 MY may amount to about 13 mln tonnes, taking into account that at the beginning of the season the carry-over stocks will be about 2.4 mln tonnes.
According to the UGA, barley harvest in 2024 may reach 4.6 mln tonnes (5.8 mln tonnes in 2023), and potential exports in 2024/2025 MY can be expected at around 2 mln tonnes (this season barley exports are forecasted at 2.5 mln tonnes).
Expectations for the corn harvest in the new season are deteriorating due to a potential reduction in corn acreage and dry conditions in a number of regions. The UGA estimates the corn harvest forecast at 25.5 million tons, which is 800 thousand tons less than the previous estimate and 4.1 million tons less than last year’s 29.6 million tons. At the same time, potential exports may amount to about 20.5 mln tons (in the current season, exports are expected to reach 26 mln tons).
The UGA expects the sunflower harvest in 2024 to reach 13.7 mln tons (in 2023 – 14.2 mln tons). Potential exports could reach up to 250 thsd tonnes (0.4 mln tonnes in the current season), while sunflower processing for vegetable oil could reach almost 13.6 mln tonnes. In the current season, processing will reach 13.5 mln tons.
In 2024, rapeseed harvest can be expected at 4.3 mln tonnes (in 2023 – 4.5 mln tonnes), while exports in 2024/2025 MY may reach 3.4 mln tonnes (in the current season – 3.7 mln tonnes).
As for soybeans, this is the only crop under which farmers can increase the area due to its profitability this year. The soybean harvest is expected to reach 5.5 mln tons in 2024 (4.9 mln tons in 2023). Potential exports in 2024/2025 MY may reach 4 mln tons (in the current season it is expected to reach 3.3 mln tons).
As reported, the UGA estimated the harvest in 2023 at 82.8 mln tonnes of grains and oilseeds.
