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.
NOT BUYING IT: One of the goals of Beijing’s Cross-Strait Media People Summit was to draw mainstream media executives to discuss the ‘one country, two systems’ formula Taiwanese news media insist on press freedom and professionalism, and would never become a tool of China’s “united front” campaign, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, responding to media queries about the lack of Taiwanese media executives at the Cross-Strait Media People Summit in Beijing. Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) was reportedly furious that no Taiwanese media representatives attended a scheduled meeting with him on Thursday last week. “Beijing should take Taiwan’s determination to pursue freedom and democracy seriously. We also hope that it will not use vicious means to interfere with Taiwan’s development into a
IMMIGRATION REFORM: The legislative amendments aim to protect the rights of families to reunify, and to attract skilled professionals to stay and work in Taiwan Foreigners who are highly skilled professionals, top-prize winners in professional disciplines, investment immigration applicants or have made special contributions to Taiwan can soon apply for permanent residency on behalf of their spouses and minor or disabled children after the legislature approved amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法). The amendments, which were proposed by the Ministry of the Interior and approved by the Executive Yuan on Jan. 12, aim to attract foreign talent to Taiwan and encourage them to stay. They would take effect once they are signed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The amendments involved changing 63 articles, making it the biggest
FIRST STEP: Business groups in Taiwan welcomed the deal, which does not include tariff reductions at this stage, as they called for the elimination of double taxation Taiwan and the US yesterday signed an initial agreement under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade. The agreement was signed yesterday morning by Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Managing Director Ingrid Larson in Washington, the Office of Trade Negotiations in Taipei said. The ceremony was witnessed by Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) and Deputy US Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi. Taiwan and the US started talks under the initiative in August last year, after Taipei was left out of the Washington-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. “The deal that will be signed tonight is not only very historic,
Beijing yesterday blamed US “provocation” for an incident last week in which a Chinese plane crossed in front of a US surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea. The incident came at a time of frayed ties between Washington and Beijing over issues including Taiwan and the shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US this year. “The United States’ long-term and frequent sending of ships and planes to conduct close surveillance on China seriously harms China’s national sovereignty and security,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said when asked about the latest incident. “This
RSS