On May 26 and 27, 2024, the 9th “China – Japan – South Korea” summit was held in Seoul. The summit was in 2019, before the pandemic, therefore a lot of issues and situations that require increased attention have been gathered in this format.
Premier Li Qiang in his speech at the businessmen’s forum held at the summit said that “China, Japan and South Korea should make efforts to reject external disturbances,” adding that the three should “keep the commitment. for harmonious coexistence and mutual support”.
He summarized the Chinese presidency’s view of countries’ neighborhood diplomacy as based on the principles of friendship, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and went on to say that China, Japan and South Korea, geographically separated by a narrow strip of water, should be . be peaceful and friendly neighbors.
Also at the business forum, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said that “the governments and business communities of the three countries should make concerted efforts for deep economic and trade cooperation . trilateral, to promote people-to-people exchanges, to enhance regional investment cooperation and to strengthen cooperation with the countries of the “Global South” through the South Korea-Japan-China+X mechanism”. They also said that they want the three Asian countries to “jointly deal with global issues, such as climate change, and make positive contributions to promoting the economic development of the three countries and the world”.
The trilateral session was an opportunity to discuss ways to promote cooperation in six areas: economy and trade, sustainable development, health, science and technology, disaster management and safety, and people-to-people exchanges. The leaders adopted a joint statement on the outcome of the summit. The Trilateral Visionary Group, a think tank that brings together eminent personalities from the three countries, was for the purpose of offering proposals for the realization of trilateral activities.
Joint Declaration (excerpts)
We shared the view that the Ninth Trilateral Summit has valuable significance for the revitalization of trilateral cooperation.
we will strive to institutionalize trilateral cooperation through regular Trilateral Summit and ministerial meetings and continue to promote TCS capacity building.
(…) we will make efforts to ensure that the peoples of the three countries can enjoy substantial benefits arising from this cooperation.
(…) we will promote “Trilateral+X cooperation” to ensure that the benefits of trilateral cooperation extend to other countries, so that the three countries can prosper together with other regions.
(…) we agree on the importance of strengthening friendship by facilitating exchanges between people from all social categories, especially among the younger generations, thus paving the way for strengthening the foundation of future trilateral cooperation.
We share the view that encouraging exchanges and friendship between teenagers and young people in the three countries will serve as an important first step towards shaping a brighter future for trilateral cooperation.
Sharing the importance of science and innovation cooperation to improve our research capacity and industrial technology competitiveness, we recognize the importance of academic exchanges between researchers in the three countries, as well as joint research and development in areas such as green and low-emission society carbon.
We reaffirmed that maintaining peace, stability and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia serves our common interest and is our shared responsibility. (…) We agree to continue to make positive efforts for the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue.
The issue of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was raised by Kishida and Yoon during the press conference, but Li Qiang did not make any direct reference to this issue. At the 2019 summit, however, China had, declaratively, a clearer position in favor of denuclearization. The difference is due to once-in-a-century global changes taking place.
Bilateral discussions were also held between each of the three participants.
Reference
Chinese premier urges China, Japan, S. Korea to reject external disruption
China-Japan-S.Korea trilateral summit meeting to boost cooperation
Full text of joint statement from 9th S. Korea-Japan-China trilateral summit
S. Korea, Japan, China reaffirm commitment to Korean Peninsula peace amid N.K. satellite plan
Commentary
When we refer to Japan and South Korea, it is important to remember the very consistent military presence that the USA has in these countries. In addition to the military presence, there is also an important political force that manifests itself very visibly at times when Washington’s interest demands action and sacrifices. I consider this to be one of those moments.
Japan and South Korea do not recognize Taiwan’s independence, but they carry out joint activities with this entity, activities that at certain times call into question the observance of the commitments made to Beijing. I say this because now, these two countries want to attract China to “keep in check” North Korea and even to maintain the direction towards the demilitarization of the peninsula.
But what about the demilitarization of the peninsula to talk about in the context in which the US is intensifying its military interventions in the extended region. And there is something else, the increasingly elaborate and deep cooperation between Russia and North Korea that is completely independent of China. In my opinion, the lack of mention in the press conference by the Chinese Premier of the denuclearization of the peninsula, which could lead to the antagonism of North Korea and perhaps Russia, is a recognition by Beijing of the real stakes of this summit and a visible rejection of any decision that would compromise China’s state security, both in the short and long term.
It is true that the theme of denuclearization is present in the joint declaration, but it has limited value because it does not involve any mechanism or plan of action to achieve this goal. In essence, we can also consider the idea of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula very reasonable in the context of global denuclearization. This will most likely never happen.
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