SEOUL– South Korea’s top diplomat on Tuesday emphasized the importance of trilateral cooperation among his country, China and Japan, citing the regional powers’ stature and potential.
“Given the stature and economic and cultural potential of the three countries, should we continue our future-oriented cooperation, it would be an important driving force for peace and prosperity in the world beyond the East Asia level,” Foreign Minister Park Jin said in a written message to the International Forum on Trilateral Cooperation. The forum took place in Seoul, hosted by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) established in the capital in 2011 with a vision for promoting partnerships among the three sides.
He pointed out that the world is faced with multiple, simultaneous challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, change in trade order, food and energy crises, and retrogression in resolving conflicts peacefully.
International cooperation and solidarity is desperately needed in riding out such difficulties, he added.
In separate written messages, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for enhancing the trilateral ties for regional peace and development, while Japan’s top diplomat Yoshimasa Hayashi suggested increasing people-to-people exchanges to deepen understanding among the nations.
The trilateral cooperative framework was launched in 1999, and leaders of the three countries have held eight rounds of group summits. The last summit was held in the Chinese city of Chengdu in December 2019.
Delivering a speech at the event, South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong stressed the need for the trio to resume their summit at an early date. It was Seoul’s turn to host the session in 2020 but it was not held amid the pandemic.
Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming voiced concern about “de-globalization,” a remark understood to be reflecting Beijing’s uneasiness about the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), a U.S-led economic initiative.
“Currently, the global economy is being hampered by the new coronavirus situation, with the supply chain suffering a blow and the trend of de-globalization emerging,” he said.
Japan’s top envoy in South Korea, Koichi Aiboshi, agreed on the need for the recovery of people-to-people exchanges among the three nations that have shrunk amid the pandemic.
Source: Yonhap News Agency