Carter is in Seoul for the 2015 Security Consultative Meeting where the USA and South Korea are expected to announce the conditions-based terms under which operational control for South Korea’s defense during wartime would shift to Seoul.
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SEOULThe leaders of China, Japan and South Korea held their first three-way summit since 2012 on Sunday, but glossed over a few of the contentious issues that have chilled relations between the East Asian economic powers. The Japanese government hopes it can strengthen bilateral co-operation by serving as a “bridge-builder” between South Korea and TPP member nations. However, Beijing and Seoul did not forget to sound a note of caution, warning that future cooperation could be hampered by Japan’s “irresponsible” approach to history.
Though the historical issues are still present, Li stated that the countries’ disagreements must not block regional, economic and security cooperation between the three nations.
“A negative, hostile atmosphere prevailed in the past, but they’re now paving the way for better dialogue”. The comments came on Sunday as they addressed a business summit in Seoul.
At a November 2 summit in Seoul, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe broke the ice by agreeing to work toward settling the World War II Korean “comfort women” controversy in which Korean women were forced to work in Japanese military brothels. Park is to meet Abe on Monday in what will be her first formal one-on-one meeting with him since her inauguration in early 2013. They say the Asian leaders instead may seek common ground on economic issues, such as how to boost trade ties as their countries face economic woes at home.
President Park and Premier Li, agreed to continue working to have their bilateral free trade agreement approved by this year’s end. The agreement to be concluded Monday reflects unease on both sides over the last decade that the previous deadline-driven transfer – under which South Korea would have assumed the lead roles this year for its defenses and the protection of the 28,500 US servicemembers stationed here – was not optimal given recent more aggressive moves by North Korea. Although China is the major ally of Pyongyang, signs show that the country is losing patience with North Korea and its constant incitements.
Following a meeting with Park in September, Chinese President Xi Jinping stated that he “opposed any action that would trigger tensions” on the Korean Peninsula, which cemented Seoul’s objective to pressure North Korea to heed worldwide warnings.
Getting relations between Japan and neighbours China and South Korea back on a friendly footing will take more than a single meeting of leaders.
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“The two leaders acknowledged that this year marks the 50th anniversary of normalizing diplomatic ties and commanded that the comfort women talks be sped up so the issue can be resolved as early as possible”. Mr Abe recently angered China and South Korea when, amid a rise in right-wing sentiment in Japan, he attempted to water down the 1993 apology but later backed down.
