Japan, China, South Korea should cooperate despite soured ties: Japan FM Kono

BEIJING, Aug 21, 2019, Kyodo. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Wednesday (Aug 21) called on China and South Korea to bolster trilateral cooperation even when respective bilateral relations worsen, amid escalating tensions between Tokyo and Seoul, reported The Straits Times.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also asked Tokyo and Seoul to seek a solution to resolve their differences “through dialogue,” but South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha lambasted Japan’s moves to tighten export control against her nation.

“Two countries sometimes face various difficulties respectively, but even under such circumstances, Japan, China and South Korea should work together trilaterally,” Mr Kono said at the outset of a foreign ministerial gathering of the three nations in Beijing.

Ms Kang, however, said South Korea hopes that the three countries will stick to “free and fair” trade for prosperity in the region in an apparent jab at Japan, underscoring that strains between Tokyo and Seoul are unlikely to wane soon

At the trilateral meeting, Mr Kono, Mr Wang and Ms Kang coordinated the schedule for their leaders’ summit in China later this year.

Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul have been hosting the annual summit in turns, but the meetings were occasionally put off against the backdrop of a chill in Japan’s relations with its two neighbours over history and territorial disputes as well as political turmoil in South Korea.

Recently, ties between Tokyo and Seoul plunged to the lowest point since their normalisation in 1965 over the Japanese imposition of export control measures in the wake of a string of South Korean court rulings last year ordering compensation for wartime labour.

All eyes are on whether the foreign ministers from the three East Asian nations can pave the way for a trilateral summit this year, as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have shown little sign of making concessions.

In 2018, South Korea’s top court ruled that Japanese companies must compensate people claiming to be victims of forced labour during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea.

Mr Abe’s government has argued that the decisions are against a 1965 bilateral agreement that settled the compensation issue “finally and completely”, and criticised Mr Moon’s administration for violating an international treaty.

Japan has strengthened export controls on South Korea since last month, citing security concerns. Seoul has insisted that the measures are aimed at taking reprisals against the court rulings, triggering a tit-for-tat trade dispute between the two countries.

Mr Kono, Mr Wang and Ms Kang are also meeting at a resort in the Chinese capital at a time when North Korea’s consecutive test-firings of new weapons have added to uncertainties in the regional security situation.

North Korea has repeatedly launched projectiles, including what Tokyo and Seoul have suspected are short-range ballistic missiles, off its east coast since July 25, in protest of a South Korea-US joint military drill that took place from Aug 5 through Tuesday.

As China and South Korea have expressed willingness to bolster economic relations with the North, Mr Kono is eager to urge Beijing and Seoul to fully implement UN sanctions resolutions against Pyongyang, a Japanese government source said.

UN Security Council resolutions have banned North Korea from using ballistic technology.

The Japanese, Chinese and South Korean foreign ministers got together for the first time since they did so in Tokyo in August 2016. The last trilateral summit between their leaders was held in Tokyo in May 2018.