The resumed leaders’ meeting between China, Japan and South Korea last year has created a new momentum in relations between the three countries. Lee Hee-sup, Secretary-General of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, said high-level contacts are continuing and a foreign ministers’ meeting is expected to take place in the near future.
Lee told China Daily that the governments of the three neighboring countries, led by this year’s chairperson Japan, are in close communication on issues related to the foreign ministers’ meeting and the leaders’ summit. The Secretariat is making every effort to ensure the success of these meetings. At the 9th Trilateral Summit in Seoul last year after more than four years, the three leaders agreed to institutionalize cooperation by holding regular trilateral summits and ministerial meetings. Since then, various ministerial-level meetings and government mechanisms have been actively functioning and various cooperation projects have been revived, Lee said. The trilateral cooperation includes 21 ministerial-level meetings, more than 70 intergovernmental mechanisms and more than 100 cooperation projects. “Trilateral cooperation is at a turning point where it needs to make a transition from quantitative growth to qualitative development,” Lee said. To realize this qualitative leap with a new vision and dynamism, it is critical to build momentum and potential for cooperation based on mutual trust, he stressed. Chronic intractable problems, such as historical issues and territorial disputes, should be carefully managed and avoid trying to find solutions immediately, Lee said.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202503/13/WS67d2f949a310c240449daad3.html
