Tokyo: Japan, China and South Korea are accelerating coordination to hold a trilateral summit after nearly four years without such a meeting.

The three countries have indicated their positive attitudes toward holding a three-way summit, and are expected to start working-level talks on the matter soon.

However, Japan and China are at odds over the planned release of treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the sea, and this could affect the momentum for holding a trilateral summit.

At a news conference Tuesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi revealed that he agreed with China’s top diplomacy, Wang Yi, during their talks in Indonesia on July 14 to restart the trilateral process, including meetings among their leaders and among their foreign ministers.

“We will promote talks at the working level among the three countries” to realize a trilateral summit, Hayashi stressed.

Japan, China and South Korea last held a trilateral summit in December 2019, before COVID-19 began to spread. Strained relations between Japan and South Korea over the wartime labor issue have also made it difficult to hold such a meeting.

But the impact of the pandemic has gradually eased, and Japan-South Korea relations have been improving, with the leaders of the two countries holding a series of meetings this year.

The next trilateral summit will be chaired by South Korea, which is aiming to hold it by the end of this year.

Hayashi expressed Japan’s support for South Korea’s efforts to hold a three-way summit, when he met with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin in Indonesia on July 13.

“We want to wait for South Korea to arrange things,” said a senior official of Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

China also appears eager to hold a summit with Japan and South Korea. On July 14, Wang also had talks with Park, and they agreed to work together to resume a trilateral summit.

One reason for China’s eagerness is believed to be that it wants to shake up cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea by strengthening its ties with Japan and South Korea.

Still, the Fukushima water issue may become an obstacle to a Japan-China-South Korea summit.

China strongly opposes Japan’s plan to release the treated water around this summer. In South Korea, too, public concern over the plan is deep-rooted.

“The three countries share the desire to hold a summit, but we need to do something about the treated water first,” a Japanese government source said.

JIJI Press