Foreign ministers from China, Japan, South Korea to meet

BEIJING – The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea are due to meet Wednesday in Tokyo amid frictions between Beijing and its neighbours over territorial claims and regional security.

The foreign ministries of China and Japan said Monday that Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida would chair the meeting with China’s Wang Yi and South Korea’s Yu Byung-se.

First held in 2007, the trilateral meetings resumed last year after being suspended for two years amid a sharp downturn in China-Japan relations.

Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing remain high over claims to an uninhabited Japanese-controlled East China Sea island group, called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China. Ties between China and South Korea have frayed recently after Seoul approved the deployment of a U.S. missile defence system that Beijing says will harm its own security.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang described Wednesday’s meeting as routine.

“We hope this meeting can help maintain the momentum of co-operation between China and Japan and contribute to the regional integration in East Asia,” Lu said.

However, Lu downplayed the significance of the meeting for China-Japan relations, saying “this is not a visit to Japan by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.”