Daily SumUp

Foreign ministers from Japan, China and South Korea sought trilateral cooperation on common ground in areas like aging, declining births, natural disasters and the green economy at a meeting that took place at a time of growing tensions.

At a joint news conference after the talks, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said he, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and South Korea’s Cho Tae-yul agreed to promote mutual understanding and trust, while tackling shared and multi-generational concerns to gain wider support for trilateral cooperation.

Iwaya emphasized his concerns about North Korea’ s nuclear and missile development and cooperation with Russia as threats, and stressed the need to pursue the North’s full denuclearization under the U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Iwaya reiterated Japan’s condemnation of Russia’s war on Ukraine. He said there is no place in the world for unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, a subtle message about China’s growing assertiveness in the region.