Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi proposed high-level talks between China, Japan and South Korea in a meeting with the Japanese foreign minister in Indonesia this month, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.
The proposal is seen as signaling a willingness to resume talks among the three countries and Japan would accelerate preparations to make it happen by the end of the year, Kyodo reported, citing unidentified diplomatic sources.
U.S. allies Japan and South Korea are wary of China's increasing military assertiveness and of growing tensions between China and the U.S. over a range of issues including trade and self-ruled Taiwan.
China's foreign ministry did not immediately comment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo could not be reached for comment on Sunday, outside business hours.
Wang and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Indonesia on July 14.
They discussed a Japanese plan to discharge into the sea treated radioactive water from its wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant but they fell short of an agreement.
The issue of the water could be a sticking point preventing an early meeting of leaders of the three countries, Kyodo said.
The last time the three countries' leaders met was in December 2019.
Japan conveyed Wang's proposal for the talks to South Korea, Kyodo said.
© Thomson Reuters 2023.
20 Comments
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BertieWooster
Good idea! As long as it's real communication and not just some ceremony!
BigP
How many times have we heard this? Level, true and fair are not in the Chinese rule book.
TaiwanIsNotChina
What is this racist going to talk about? Most likely it is just how Japan and SK should join a Chinese co-prosperity sphere.
isabelle
Good idea in theory; pointless in practice. It'll just be more lies from the Chinese government, in its usual condescending, passive aggressive manner.
We've had decades of lies from China. We don't need to hear any more.
Moonraker
It would be better for China to just shut up for a while. China used to be all mystical East, wisdom and inscrutability in the minds of many, especially misguided Westerners, like Japan is to some, and it was partly because they rarely spoke and when they did it was in pithy aphorisms. It at least sounded like there was something deeper behind it all. Now, the more China talks, the more incoherent, banal and contradictory it sounds.
OssanAmerica
I hope the wang man is going to come up with something better than Co-Prosperity Sphere 2.0 this time. A concept that got traction 85 years ago only because there were Asian nations that had European colonial masters then. Doesn't quite work in 2023 when Asian nations are fearful of China's dictatorship.
The CCP threw out everything that was good about China in the cultural revolution.
BertieWooster
Level, true and fair are not in the Chinese rule book.
I wonder which country's rule book they are in then? Japan? The U.S.A?
deanzaZZR
Kick rocks, China is OK, but knowing your neighbors is more important than distant family is deleted. There is something of an expectation that JT readers know some kanji I would think. I mean Chinese 成語 are known by all Japanese.
odoriko
@deanzaZZR - known as 四字熟語 in Japan.
itsonlyrocknroll
The Government of China appears politically and diplomatically to always have an ulterior motive.
Dictatorship, lack of political reforms, detailed human rights, religious freedom abuses.
China’s legal reform that would move the country towards any alignment with a recognizable acceptance of rules based international law, all non existent
That before we get to Taiwan independence, the vital global shipping lanes, the South China Sea nine dash line nonsense.
The constant threats, intimidation.
Fredrik
The genetic difference between Japanese/Chinese/Korean is less than 1% of their total genetic diversity, which is much smaller than that between any of the groups and a European population (~10%).
englisc aspyrgend
Fredik, irrelevant.
Our favourite racist will just be pushing the same CCP party line. China doesn’t listen, it just expects agreement and will whine and complain until you do.
Peter14
This will just be another "warning" from China about opposing it's supposed rise, and against joining the US circle (which they have been part of for decades already) and lies about it being better for all if they follow China. Like Japan losing Senkaku and not having the US to help protect them if Japan sides with China. This is all about China trying to get a win for itself at any cost to everyone else.
China cant be trusted and must always be judged by its actions rather than its words. its actions are hostile and until that changes, nobody will throw their hat in with China except other anti west and anti US factions.
Japan and South Korea should attend without expecting any change from China, and no chance of achieving anything worthwhile. China is a lost cause under CCP rule.
Hiro S Nobumasa
Japan's export curbs on chip-making equipment to China just started to be in full swing yet Wang is pleading for talks with Tokyo?
That just proves that China is a roaring dragon vs Taiwan but a wimpy mice when facing Japan especially in the Senkakus .
xin xin
No point at all talking to China. It is in an economic doldrum, so even the greedy businesspeople are staying away. Politically, it deserves a full decoupling. Hands off Taiwan first before anyone should talk to China.