Tokyo on Tuesday (Oct27) said a long-awaited leadership summit with Seoul had yet to be set, as local media reported that behind-the-scenes bickering over Japan’s wartime sex slavery was a key sticking point.
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Li’s trip later this month will be the first time in five years a Chinese premier has visited South Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying pointed out in her announcement.
Though the South Korean side demands an apology and compensation concerning the so-called comfort women issue, Tokyo adheres to its stance that it was settled “completely and finally” in the 1965 Agreement Between Japan and the Republic of Korea Concerning the Settlement of Problems in Regard to Property and Claims and Economic Cooperation. “So, there will obviously discuss about the issue”, Liu said, referring to the 2005 agreement in which North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for aid and security assurances.
South Korea has offered November 2 as the date of the summit talks between President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Concerning a proposed meeting between Abe and Li, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters on Monday that arrangements are “being made”, indicating the two countries will hold a meeting.
Premier Li will try to “synergize” Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative with the S. Korea’s ambition for closer ties among Asian and European countries during his visit, Tong said.
Zhang Tuosheng, director of the Research Department at the China Foundation for worldwide and Strategic Studies, said the summit will be a breakthrough, as trilateral relations have suffered a great deal from tension between China and Japan since 2012.
The trilateral meeting will mark a significant step towards mending relations among the three neighbours, severely strained over territorial disputes and Japan’s perceived lack of remorse over wartime atrocities. From 1910 to 1945, the Korean Peninsula was a Japanese colony.
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For his part, assistant Minister of Commerce Tong Daochi says close economic ties are of great importance as each of the three countries plays an important role in the world economy and global trade cooperation.
