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
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine and its partners do not consider the possibility of Russian representatives attending the inaugural Peace Summit to be held in Switzerland.
“Today we talked a lot about our Formula for Peace. I am grateful for the support of Mr. President. I informed Mr. President about the preparation of the global Peace Summit at the level of leaders, which is being organized in Switzerland – the inaugural Peace Summit,” he said during a press conference with the Turkish President in Istanbul.
According to Zelenskyy, “it is obvious that Turkey’s special role deserves to be demonstrated at the Peace Summit and in the joint work of the world majority to fully implement the Peace Formula.”
“As for the format of the inaugural Summit itself, we do not see any representatives of Russia at this Summit. We do not see how people who block, destroy and kill everything can be invited. We want to get a result. The result of a just peace, and a just peace for Ukraine,” the President of Ukraine said.
Therefore, Zelenskyy noted, “first, the civilized countries of the world will develop a detailed plan and have a result (based on the results of the first Peace Summit – IF-U).”
“And only then will they involve representatives of Russia – those who will be ready for a just peace,” he concluded.
Earlier, during a press conference with Zelenskyy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey was ready to host a peace summit, but with the participation of Russia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey is ready to host a peace summit with Russia.
“From the very beginning, we have been contributing to ending the war through negotiations. We are ready to host a peace summit that will include Russia,” he said on Friday in Istanbul after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Erdogan emphasized that “we support the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of our strategic partner, Ukraine.”
“Unfortunately, the war is having an increasingly negative impact regionally and globally, and primarily on Ukraine. No diplomatic steps have been taken to use the negotiating table we built in Istanbul in March 2022 to establish peace,” he said.
The Turkish President also expressed his readiness to support new agreements on grain exports.
According to him, “the entry into force of the free trade agreement as soon as possible will undoubtedly give impetus to the development of our relations.”
Erdogan noted that “the existence of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine is one of the most important factors in strengthening friendship between the two countries. The Crimean Tatars, who are an integral part of Ukraine, are selflessly fighting for the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”
“In the future, on the one hand, we will stand in solidarity with Ukraine, and on the other hand, we will continue our work to end the war with a just peace based on negotiations,” he said.
During a conversation with African journalists, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed holding a Ukraine-African Union summit and said he was ready to come to any African country for this purpose.
According to the head of state, Ukraine is interested in strategic partnership with the states of the African continent, but such a partnership should be based on mutual respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty, language and traditions.
“This should be in the cultural plane, in the economic plane, and in respect between people. Without violating your and our rights, without affecting your and our freedom. We respect any state that respects us,” he said.
As the next step in the development of strategic cooperation, Zelenskyy announced his readiness to visit any state on the African continent.
“I do not have any priorities here (regarding a particular African state – IF-U). I think that if we can organize ourselves where we can meet, so that I have maximum contact with as many leaders, as many communities as possible, I think that would be better. And I would like to have the opportunity to organize such a meeting “African Union – Ukraine” or “Ukraine – countries of the African continent,” the president said.
“To be honest, I don’t care what the format is called. The main goal is for us all to do our best to achieve stability in the world and to achieve peace on the territory of our country. And to put the question not only in Russia, but with this war and the end of this war to put in place any aggressor with any colonial ambitions for the future,” he added.
As he emphasized, this is also very important for the future, because such things, such outbreaks and such wars can happen anywhere in the world.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President of Poland Andrzej Duda have agreed to coordinate their actions ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius.
“At the events in Lutsk, Andrzej Duda and I had a brief but very substantive discussion about the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius. We agreed to work together to get the best result for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.
For his part, the Polish president also posted on Twitter: “Today in Lutsk, Ukraine, we met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to reaffirm friendship in the face of a difficult history and to hold final consultations before the NATO summit in Vilnius, which begins in two days.”
As Duda emphasized, “effective support for Ukraine in its aspirations for membership in the Alliance is very important for Poland.”
European Union leaders say they will continue to fully support Ukraine by providing political, economic, military, financial and humanitarian aid for as long as needed.
This is the case in the conclusions on Ukraine adopted at a European Council meeting Thursday in Brussels.
“The European Union firmly and fully supports Ukraine and will continue to provide strong political, economic, military, financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine and its people for as long as necessary. The European Union and member states will intensify their efforts to help meet Ukraine’s urgent military and defense needs,” the document said.
In addition, the findings state that the European Union remains committed to supporting Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction in coordination with international partners. “In this context, the European Council reiterates the EU’s full support for the establishment of an international mechanism to record the damage caused by Russia. Together with partners, the European Union will continue to step up efforts to use frozen and immobilized Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine and to make reparations in accordance with EU law and international law,” the text said.
EU leaders also welcomed Ukraine’s commitment and efforts to implement reforms and underlined the importance of Ukraine’s accession process in line with its earlier conclusions, in particular those of June 23-24, 2022.
