China, Japan, South Korea agree to hold trilateral summit
Leaders meeting could provide opportunity to address trade, security concerns
SEOUL -- China, Japan and South Korea will soon hold their first trilateral summit since 2019, signaling a restart of diplomacy among the East Asian countries, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.
High-ranking diplomats from the three countries reached an agreement to work toward holding the summit at the "earliest convenient time," the ministry said in a news release. The participants said Tuesday's meeting was a chance to rekindle trilateral cooperation that has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and other issues.
The trio has extensive trade ties and shared security concerns over North Korea and supply chains. In recent months their diplomatic approaches have diverged as Seoul and Tokyo have moved even closer to Washington, their mutual ally.
Tuesday's meeting took place alongside signs of renewed contact between Beijing and Seoul. South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported over the weekend that Chinese President Xi Jinping told South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo that he would "seriously consider" visiting Seoul. The remark came during a meeting the two held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, just before the opening ceremony of the Asian Games.
Xi last visited South Korea in 2014, while South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol took office last year and has not yet traveled to China, Seoul's largest trading partner. Throughout his term, Yoon has held summits with the U.S. and Japan while making repeated statements about the need to align with countries that share values such as democratic politics and free trade.
Yoon's diplomacy has created friction with China, who appears to have interpreted his pro-U.S. stance as representing a choice to side with Washington in its competition with Beijing for influence in Asia.
Changes in the economic landscape may be spurring the two sides to shore up ties. Recent data showed a sharp decline in South Korea's shipments of semiconductors to China, a possible sign that a slowdown in the world's No. 2 economy could have ripple effects in export-oriented neighboring countries.
Some observers in South Korea have taken note of the apparent shift. "The change in China's stance comes as South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have raised their trilateral cooperation to the highest-ever level, and as North Korea and Russia are quickly closing in on an arms deal," the Chosun Ilbo newspaper noted in an editorial on Monday.
The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper on Monday released the results of a poll showing that 81.8% of respondents were in favor of deepening the South Korea-U.S. alliance. Similarly large majorities responded that South Korea's alliance with the U.S. had helped the country develop both economically and as a democracy.
Respondents were more ambivalent when asked about China. A narrow majority of 52% said South Korea should respond strongly to China's suppression of its Uyghur ethnic minority, while 60% were in favor of restricting China's access to key forms of technology such as semiconductors.
Analysts argue that China's history of economic coercion and the recent clampdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong have unnerved many in South Korea. Yoon therefore has significant public support in deepening ties with Washington, says Park Hwee-rak, professor of political science at Kookmin University in Seoul.
"The South Korean people have come to realize that democratic values are very important to prosperity," Park told Nikkei Asia.