Foreign ministers from South Korea, China, and Japan are meeting in South Korea today, Sunday, in an effort to resume cooperation among the Asian neighbors and pave the way for a trilateral summit. While China and the United States are working to repair their strained relations, including a summit this month between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, Beijing is concerned that Washington and its key regional allies are working to strengthen their trilateral partnership.
Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul agreed to hold annual summits starting in 2008 to enhance diplomatic and economic exchanges, but the plan has been hindered by bilateral disputes and the COVID-19 pandemic. The last meeting of the leaders of the three countries took place in 2019. The senior diplomats are gathering in the coastal city of Busan, marking the first such meeting since 2019.
On Sunday morning, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met separately with his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The South Korean Foreign Ministry stated that Park and Kamikawa condemned North Korea's launch of its first spy satellite and agreed to strengthen responses to arms deals between Pyongyang and Moscow.
