Report: Japan FM to Meet S.Korea, China Counterparts
Japan's foreign minister will hold face-to-face talks with his South Korean opposite number at a regional gathering next week, a report said Friday, the first ministerial meeting between the two countries since new governments came to power.
Fumio Kishida is also hoping for a chance to meet informally with China's foreign minister on the sidelines of the annual diplomatic and security meetings hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Brunei, Kyodo News reported.
Any meeting would be the highest level contact between Tokyo and Beijing since the eruption of a blistering row over the sovereignty of disputed islands, and would come at a forum expected to be dominated by fears over increasingly assertive territorial claims by China.
Despite an important trading relationship and their status as allies of the United States, South Korea and Japan often struggle to get along.
Relations turned frosty last summer in a row over the sovereignty of a pair of largely uninhabited islets. They were further irritated by ongoing differences over shared history and in particular over the issue of sex slavery during World War II.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se called off a visit to Tokyo in April after two Japanese cabinet ministers paid their respects at the Yasukuni shrine, a central Tokyo spot that honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including war criminals.
Both countries have elected new governments since the last ministerial level meeting, but neither side has so far appeared willing to make the first move in mending ties, despite entreaties from Washington.
South Korea, Japan and the US will hold three-way talks on Sunday and Kishida's meeting with Yun is likely to come after that, Kyodo said.
Kishida is separately arranging an informal conversation with China's Wang in Brunei, either on Sunday or Monday, Kyodo said, quoting government sources.
At a news conference earlier this week, Kishida said there were no plans for a one-on-one, but added: "Our country has always kept the door open for dialogue."
Japan is eager to ensure that it holds dialogue with China and South Korea to try to get over recent hiccups in the relationships, and is conscious that Beijing and Seoul are moving to strengthen ties through high-level contact, Kyodo said.
On Thursday, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and agreed to keep pushing to end North Korea's nuclear program.
A Japanese foreign ministry official declined to confirm the Kyodo report, but insisted that Tokyo is ready to hold dialogue with its two neighbors.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters at a morning press conference that Asia had to work to smooth out its problems.
"The region is facing various issues related to peace and stability, including the North Korean issue. It is important for countries in the region to try to tackle these issues by overcoming differences in their standpoints."
Meetings begin with a gathering of the 10-member ASEAN bloc on Sunday, expanding Monday to include China, Japan and South Korea, before an East Asia summit gathering of 26 countries and the European Union.
Source: Agence France Presse
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