Japan, South Korea and China kicked off their first joint summit in more than four years on Monday, seeking deeper commercial ties to bolster their economies, including by possibly relaunching negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA).
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is hosting Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul. None of the three were in office for the last three-way gathering in December 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, in Chengdu, China.
The leaders held bilateral talks after Kishida and Li arrived in Seoul on Sunday and are expected to release a joint statement after the summit. Nikkei has learned that a draft version says the three countries aim to restart trade talks that have been on hold since 2019.
The draft says the leaders “will hold discussions in order to accelerate the negotiations, aiming for a mutually beneficial FTA by Japan, China and South Korea that is also high-quality and inclusive.” The countries will exchange views on what the “future-oriented trilateral FTA” should be like, meaning that the talks would be at a higher level than in the past.
Despite the attempt to move forward on a range of issues, including climate cooperation, broader regional tensions could be seen in Sunday’s bilateral exchanges. Kishida, for example, told Li that “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are of utmost importance to international society,” just after China held large-scale military exercises targeting Taiwan in the aftermath of the self-governing island’s election of Lai Ching-te as its new president.
Sensitive security matters such as Taiwan and North Korea’s development of nuclear and other weapons are not on the official agenda for the trilateral summit, though they may be addressed in some form. As host of the gathering, Yoon has tried to emphasize what the three countries have in common and the potential benefits of closer cooperation.
In his meeting with Li on Sunday, Yoon highlighted how the countries need to bolster their shared mechanisms for protecting supply chains for key minerals and other raw materials.
The summit also builds on Yoon’s pursuit of improved relations with Japan since taking office two years ago in order to move beyond frequent tensions over historical issues related to Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
Also on the theme of underscoring commonalities, Sunday’s official schedule ended with a dinner featuring art and performances from the three countries that highlighted their “long history of exchange and the individuality that blossomed based on it,” Yoon’s office said. The leaders all attended.