A spokeswoman for South Korea’s president said Monday that Seoul had proposed a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Park Geun-Hye on the sidelines of a trilateral leadership meeting being held with China in Seoul next week.
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The upcoming trilateral summit paved the way for Park to hold her first one-on-one meeting with Abe.
Li’s visit to South Korea will help further develop bilateral relations between South Korea and China, and will also help “promote regional peace and prosperity”, Hua said.
The news was announced by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, who also spoke of China’s expectations for the summit.
Park had initially signaled her willingness to meet Abe during a recent visit to Washington but stressed that in order for the summit to be “meaningful” there would have to be timely progress on the comfort women issue.
Japan occupied much of Southeast Asia, including China and the Korean Peninsula, during World War II. The talks will focus mainly on North Korea, according to the report. However, Japan has returned related documents and refused to respond to the court’s call to appear for trial for two years, saying the South Korean court has no jurisdiction over the Japanese government.
The U.S. Navy Tuesday sent a warship within 22 kilometers (12 nautical miles) of man-made islands built by China in the South China Sea.
South Korea however has been reluctant to criticize China so as to maintain Beijing’s support for sanctions against Pyongyang.
“We hope that the Japanese side can sincerely reflect upon all its past mistakes, directly make a clean break with its unbeautiful past, and take an entirely new approach to join hands with the people of China and South Korea”, Wang said.
Seoul wants to clarify that Tokyo still needs its permission to enter Korean territory.
Discussions on a long-awaited free trade agreement and strategies for deeper economic integration will be on the agenda.
“South Korea is one of our most important neighbouring countries and in terms of geopolitics it is very important to our security”, Nakatani said last week in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.
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China is not part of the pact and the TPP is seen by a few as a way to counter China’s growing economic power.
