Leaders of China, Japan and South Korea agree to hold first summit since 2019
The three-way talks – attended by deputy and assistant ministers from the three countries – were seen as an attempt to ease Beijing's concerns over Washington's deepening security ties with Tokyo and Seoul, AFP reports.
Beijing described them as a "in-depth discussion on promoting the stable restarting of cooperation". "It was agreed that carrying out cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea is in the common interests of the three parties," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
The three countries agreed to hold a meeting of their foreign ministers "in the next few months", Wang said, and to promote "the holding of a leaders' meeting as early as possible at a time convenient to all three countries."
Beijing, Seoul's biggest trading partner, is also North Korea's most important ally and economic benefactor.
While Tokyo, Seoul and Washington have held joint military exercises against the growing North Korean threats, Beijing has recently sent senior officials to attend Pyongyang's military parades.
China also claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory, vowing to seize it one day, and officials in Washington – a key ally of Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo – have cited 2027 as a possible timeline for an invasion.
In April, South Korea's Yoon said that tensions over Taiwan were due to "attempts to change the status quo by force".
