"Chinese King Proposes Holding High-Level China-Japan-Korea Summit in Japan"

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi (left) shakes hands with Wang Yi, member of the Communist Party Central Political Bureau, ahead of their meeting on the 2nd (local time) in Beijing, China. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is exploring the possibility of holding a high-level trilateral meeting among South Korea, China, and Japan.

Kyodo News reported on the 23rd, citing multiple diplomatic sources, that Wang proposed holding a vice-ministerial level trilateral meeting among South Korea, China, and Japan during his talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa in Jakarta, Indonesia, on the 14th.

Japan views this proposal as a sign of intent to resume the trilateral summit meetings that have been suspended since December 2019 and plans to actively coordinate to realize exchanges among the leaders within this year. It is also known that the Japanese government has conveyed China's intentions to South Korea.

Dialogue among South Korea, China, and Japan typically progresses from general executive-level consultations to foreign minister meetings and then to summit meetings.

A senior official from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs interpreted Wang's proposal as "China leaning positively toward trilateral dialogue considering the international situation and domestic economy."

However, Kyodo News reported that the Japanese government also holds the view that China may be trying to create a rift in the security cooperation among the U.S., South Korea, and Japan by excluding the U.S. from the framework, and thus Japan is prepared to proceed with coordination while closely monitoring U.S.-China relations.

If a South Korea-China-Japan summit is held, South Korea will take the chairmanship of the meeting in order.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.