Foreign Ministers Of South Korea, Japan And China To Meet In Tokyo On Saturday

The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and China will hold a meeting in Tokyo on Saturday in the first such talks since 2023, the governments of the three East Asian nations said on Tuesday.

The trilateral talks come as Seoul and Tokyo, both key U.S. allies, face growing uncertainties in domestic politics and over President Donald Trump’s policies amid the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China.

South Korea said its Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and his Japanese and Chinese counterparts, Takeshi Iwaya and Wang Yi, will discuss cooperation and exchange opinions on topics including the regional and international situation.

Although there is no plan to issue a joint statement, the top diplomats of the three countries will talk about “future-oriented cooperation”, followed by a joint press announcement, Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya told a regular briefing.

The last trilateral meeting of foreign ministers was held in the city of Busan in November 2023, South Korea said. The leaders of the three countries held a summit in May last year.

On Saturday, China and Japan will have the first high-level economic dialogue in six years on the sidelines of the foreign ministers’ talks, the governments said.

South Korea’s Cho will also hold separate bilateral meetings with Iwaya and Wang on the sidelines of the trilateral meeting, its foreign ministry said.