After months of anticipation, China, Japan, and South Korea held their first trilateral summit since 2012 this weekend. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traveled to Seoul to meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye on November 1. The three leaders issued a Joint Declaration for Peace and Cooperation in Northeast Asia after their meeting on Sunday. The declaration took an optimistic view of the thorny relationship between China, Japan, and South Korea. Saying that “steady progress has been made in trilateral cooperation in various areas despite fluid situations in the Northeast Asian region in recent years,” the statement declares that “trilateral cooperation has been completely restored on the occasion of this Summit.” From now on, the trilateral summit “is to be held on a regular basis,” according to the declaration. Such summits were held annually from 2008 to 2012; should a trilateral summit take place again next year, Japan is set to be the host. Despite the optimism, most of the 2015 declaration sticks to low-hanging fruit such as disaster management, environmental issues, people-to-people exchanges, and deepening economic ties. The declaration included 18 points on “expanding economic and social cooperation for co-prosperity,” 10 on “promoting sustainable development,” and 14 on “enhancing trust and understanding among the peoples.” There were only eight points dealing with security and political issues, and most of those were simply promises of trilateral coordination prior to upcoming multilateral meetings. Undeterred by irritants, China’s quest for peace and focussed attention for economic development paved the way for the summit meeting that took place after three and a half years as souring of relations between the three neighbours triggered a lengthy hiatus in the annual trilateral summit mechanism. Prudence would be needed on the future of the relationship, and the decision to enhance bilateral exchanges was a step in the right direction that would further improve the relations though in view of the sensitivity and complexity of the bilateral relationship, there is a long way to go before a normal path of development can return. China is the world’s second largest economy and Japan and South Korea have been amongeconomic giants not only in Asia but also in the world and working relationship between the three could put Asia on the path of economic boom. Realizing the emerging world scenario the three leaders in a lengthy joint statement after their summit,expressed their willingness to work together again for regional trade and security. The three leaders committed to sealing a trilateral free trade agreement that would provide fresh momentum to their slowing economies. Though China and South Korea have differences with Japan clouded by sensitive historical disputes but exchange of views at the summit as well as during their bilateral meetings would certainly have sobering effect. Therefore, the summit is a very encouraging development and should serve as a role model for other countries to sit and discuss trivial issues instead of fostering ill-will and adopting threatening postures.
pk.shafaqna.com
