The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and China yesterday agreed that a summit of their leaders on hold for nearly three years should be held soon to mend ties.
The ministers met in a bid to restore what had been a regular forum to discuss cooperation until it collapsed over what Seoul and Beijing saw as Tokyo’s reluctance to own up to its wartime past.
“Based on the accomplishments achieved through this meeting, the three ministers decided to continue their efforts to hold the trilateral summit at the earliest convenient time for the three countries,” a joint statement after the meeting said.
PHOTO: AFP
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said at a joint news conference that much depended on Japan proving that it is serious about recognizing its World War II actions in the region.
“The war has been over for 70 years, but the problem with history remains a present issue, not an issue of the past,” he said referring to the end of WWII.
South Korea and China see Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to recast Japan’s war record in a less apologetic tone as an attempt to whitewash history, and have urged him to uphold former leaders’ statements of apology.
Abe has recently shown signs of softening his stance, helping to ease relations.
Meeting on the sidelines of the event earlier, Wang expressed hope that South Korea would join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se said Seoul is reviewing its options, a South Korean official told reporters.
Japan-China ties remain frosty despite Abe having met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time in November last year. South Korean President Park Geun-hye has yet to have a two-way summit with Abe.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
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One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
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