Consultations in Tokyo followed the rare summit in Seoul in May, with three neighbors struggling with historic and territorial conflicts surged to deepen trade ties and revise the targets of the denuclearized South Korean Peninsula. They come amid concerns over US tariffs looming on the region and the deployment of troops to support North Korea’s arms tests and Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“We have reaffirmed that maintaining peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula is the common interest and responsibility of the three countries,” Seoul’s Cho Tse Yul said after the 11th Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
Position on North Korea
Seoul and Tokyo typically hold a stronger boundary against North Korea than China. It continues to be one of Pyongyang’s most important allies and economic benefactors.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeii Wire said Cho and China’s Wang Yi “have a candid exchange of opinions on trilateral cooperation and regional international issues, confirming that they will promote future cooperation.”
This year, the king said, “Only by looking back at history in earnest can we build our future better.”
Patricia M Kim, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings facility in Washington, said that “the trilateral dialogue has been going on for over a decade,” but that the round “has been “increasing importance” because of “the new US position.”
US Senators in Beijing
Meanwhile, in Beijing, US Senator Steve Daines met with China’s deputy prime minister. Daines’ visit to meet Prime Minister Li Qiang on Sunday is seen as a way to ease tensions in trade relations.
