China, Japan, and South Korea meet to discuss finance

(Baonghean.vn) - China, Japan and South Korea have just planned to meet on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting held in Peru on October 8.

The 2010 China-Japan-Korea Trilateral Summit. Photo: Flickr/KOREA.NET.

In a statement to Yonhap news agency, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said the meeting would focus on “macroeconomic conditions, financial market developments and how best to respond to changes in economic policies implemented around the world.” One of the policy changes that has received special attention from these East Asian economies is the possibility of a US interest rate hike later this year.

This will be the second meeting between the finance ministers of the three East Asian countries this year. They met in May on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) meeting in Azerbaijan.

However, this meeting will be especially important because it has the potential to set the tone for the leaders' summit, which, although not yet scheduled, is highly anticipated to take place in South Korea later this year.

While the three countries have held joint summits at the head of state level, the upcoming summit will be their first since 2012. The regular forum for cooperation has been suspended due to historical and territorial tensions, including anger from China and South Korea over what they see as Japan's reluctance to accept responsibility for its wartime past.

Since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took power in 2012 and pursued a more assertive stance, Chinese and South Korean leaders have increasingly expressed concern about Japan's return to its militaristic past.

Tensions flared again after Mr Abe’s “unconvincing” speech at the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, but Chinese and South Korean officials have recently signaled an agreement to put political concerns aside. At a meeting in Beijing in September, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that a three-way summit would further contribute to regional peace and prosperity.

Guo Yanjun, deputy director of the Institute of Asian Studies at China Foreign Affairs University, has noted that a leaders’ summit would be a key driver of “practical cooperation.” While no formal promises have been made, there are hopes that the summit will ease tensions over territorial disputes.

More importantly, the conference will promote discussions on a draft free trade agreement between the three parties. Such an agreement would have a huge impact, especially when the gross domestic product (GDP) and trade turnover of the three countries account for 20% and 18.3% of the world's total, respectively.

The summit will also be the first formal bilateral meeting between Park and Abe. While Sino-Japanese relations have warmed since Xi and Abe met in April, Japan’s relations with South Korea remain shaky. In addition to resolving longstanding historical issues, the two leaders will have an opportunity to discuss the prospects for greater security cooperation, which is of particular interest to both countries and their Western allies in the face of an unpredictable North Korea and a rising China.

Thu Giang

(According to Diplomat)