On Monday, the leaders of South Korea, Japan, and China issued a joint statement that included cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, and culture, but did not address the Taiwan issue. Experts believe that on critical security issues, the three parties have differing opinions, and China has not been able to change the strengthening relationship between the United States, Japan, and South Korea.
The U.S. State Department stated on Monday that officials from the U.S., Japan, and South Korea will hold a series of dialogues to strengthen cooperation in economic security and maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait.
During the summit held in Seoul, South Korea on Monday, President of South Korea Yoon Suk-yeol, Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida, and Premier of China Li Keqiang issued a joint statement covering areas such as economic trade, cultural exchanges, climate change, and addressing aging societies.
This agreement marks the first understanding reached at a trilateral summit between China, Japan, and South Korea in over four years. Japan will host the next summit.
According to Reuters, in terms of economic cooperation and trade, the three countries agreed to support accelerating discussions on the trilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and reiterated their support for an open, rule-based multilateral trade system centered around the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In terms of cultural exchanges, the goal for the three parties is to achieve 40 million person-times of exchanges through cultural, tourism, and educational activities by 2030. They also pledged to take concrete actions to support efforts to achieve the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement.
Regarding regional and international peace, the three parties reaffirmed their common interests and responsibilities in maintaining peace, stability, and prosperity in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. The countries reiterated their positions on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the abduction issue.
On the same day, North Korea criticized the joint statement by China, Japan, and South Korea as “serious political provocation and infringement of sovereignty.”
Regarding the trilateral summit, Associate Professor Chen Bingkui of the School of International Affairs at National Chengchi University in Taiwan told The Epoch Times on the 27th that this is the beginning of communication and cooperation among the three parties. It means that after Beijing continuously criticized South Korea and Japan for conspiring against Beijing, the three countries gathered for the first time and discussed matters more related to economy and trade than politics.
Associate Professor Chen Shimin of the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University also spoke to The Epoch Times on the 27th, stating, “I think the emphasis is mainly on economic, cultural, and tourism exchanges. Basically, because the economic and trade relations among the parties are still quite close, with China being the largest trading partner for Japan and South Korea, and Japan and South Korea being China’s second, third, or fourth largest trading partners.”
“All three parties hope that with their economies currently possibly facing some stagnation, they can boost their economic development through closer economic exchanges with each other.”
Furthermore, the joint statement did not mention the Taiwan issue. However, during the bilateral meeting between Fumio Kishida and Li Keqiang on Sunday (the 26th), Kishida expressed concern about the military situation surrounding Taiwan, emphasizing that “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is extremely important to the international community.”
Regarding some sensitive security issues, Chen Shimin said, “For example, the Taiwan issue was not discussed in the joint statement. The issue of close military cooperation between China and Russia that Japan is concerned about, or the progress of denuclearization of North Korea that South Korea is concerned about, are basically just declarations of intent, expressing hope for North Korea’s denuclearization but without any concrete demands being presented.”
“So, in terms of security and politics, this meeting is probably at most just establishing channels for mutual communication. But the issues are obviously not resolved.”
Since Xi Jinping took office as the leader of the Communist Party of China, there has been increased military harassment of neighboring countries. China’s military aircraft and ships have been continuously harassing neighboring countries and regions in the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, and East China Sea, leading to a situation where the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines have jointly resisted.
Chen Shimin stated that at this China-Japan-Korea meeting, Li Keqiang requested Japan and South Korea to jointly counter the U.S.’s protectionist policies, but it is clear that Japan and South Korea did not respond to this request. “So basically, I believe for Japan and South Korea, their top priority is still to strengthen cooperation with the United States.”
Chen Shimin believes that for China, “Japan and South Korea at most hope to maintain a certain level of economic relationship with each other, but they will not sacrifice their security or economic ties with the United States for China (the CCP).”
The trilateral statement this time reiterated the maintenance of peace in Northeast Asia. However, the Integrated Staff Office of the Japanese Ministry of Defense stated on Monday that a Chinese reconnaissance and attack drone, the “WL10,” flew over the East China Sea to the north of Okinawa Prefecture, prompting Japan to scramble fighter jets.
Last year, the leaders of Japan and South Korea visited the United States successively, and the U.S., Japan, and South Korea have continued to strengthen their security and economic cooperation.
Today (the 27th), the U.S. State Department pointed out that Deputy Secretary of State Campbell will hold trilateral talks with deputy foreign ministers from Japan and South Korea on the 31st of this month, emphasizing the collective strengthening of cooperation in economic security and the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
In addition, the U.S. and Japan will hold the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-Japan Strategic Dialogue and Development Dialogue on the 30th, attended by Campbell and Japan’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Masanori Okano. Campbell will also have a bilateral meeting with South Korea’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kim Hong-kyun, on the 31st to discuss the key role of the U.S.-South Korea alliance in promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and other areas.
Chen Shimin believes that for Japan and South Korea, they have elevated their security relationship with the United States in the past year or two, with the breakthrough in the Japan-Korea relationship being the most important. It is evident from the joint statement at the U.S.-Japan-Korea Trilateral Davos Summit held in the U.S. in 2023 that the security relationship among these three parties has become closer and stronger.
“In a manner of speaking, the close reinforcement of the relationship between the United States, Japan, and South Korea actually helps the U.S. in constructing a multilateral military alliance system in East Asia akin to the NATO organization in Europe. After all, the reason why East Asia has not been able to create a military alliance system like NATO in the past has mainly been due to the barriers between Japan and South Korea.”
Chen Shimin believes that with a significant improvement in Japan-Korea relations, “I basically think that this China-Japan-Korea summit did not change the close strengthening of security cooperation among the U.S., Japan, and Korea that has been ongoing since last year.” “Whether in terms of security or economics, supply chain cooperation has been further strengthened.”
Therefore, Chen Shimin said, “This China-Japan-Korea summit, in terms of security, is at most of symbolic significance, with each party likely stating their own opinions and willing to show their commitment to continuing to establish communication channels. But it is clear that the conflicts or discrepancies between them have not changed.”
Chen Bingkui also believes that the trilateral summit is just the beginning, and the real tensions among the three parties may only become apparent later on. Beijing wants to show that the relationship between China, Japan, and South Korea has not deteriorated significantly, but Li Keqiang is using this opportunity to complain about the recent strengthening of Japan-Korea relations with the U.S.
“At present, the relationship between China, Japan, and South Korea is not very good. This is an attempt by Beijing to improve relations among the three parties, a good platform, but Beijing’s strategy will determine its success within this platform. Personally, I am more pessimistic about it.”