SEOUL: Chinese Premier Li Qiang praised what he called a restart in relations with Japan and South Korea as he met their leaders for the first three-way talks in four years on Monday, agreeing to revive trade and security dialogues.
The Chinese premier met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul with efforts to revitalise three-party free trade agreement negotiations, stalled since 2019, high on the agenda.
As the summit opened, Li said the meeting was "both a restart and a new beginning" and called for the comprehensive resumption of cooperation between East Asia's economic powerhouses.
"For China, South Korea, and Japan, our close ties will not change, the spirit of cooperation achieved through crisis response will not change and our mission to safeguard regional peace and stability will not change," Li said.
A joint declaration released after the meeting called for China, Japan, and South Korea to formalise more regular communication at the highest levels, and collaborate on climate change, conservation, health, trade and international peace, among other areas.
The declaration also set a goal of boosting the number of people-to-people exchanges to 40 million by 2030 through exchanges in culture, tourism and education.
The leaders also issued separate joint statements on pandemic preparation and intellectual property protection.
On North Korea, Yoon and Kishida called on Pyongyang not to carry out a planned rocket launch carrying a space satellite, which they say uses ballistic missile technology banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions. Li called for all parties to practice restraint and prevent further complication of the situation on the Korean peninsula.
Yoon said the leaders agreed to build a transparent and predictable trade and supply chain environment.
The leaders also attended a forum with top business executives from the three countries who noted that cooperation had not reached its potential due to the global challenges, but agreed that industry would work together to support trade and stabilise supply chains.
"Relations would advance further if China allows better access for Japanese and Korean diplomats in Beijing and improves the business environment for foreign companies," Easley said.
Monday's summit comes a day after the leaders met separately for bilateral talks with each other. — Reuters
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