Japan, China, S. Korea Finance Chiefs to Meet on Fri.

Tokyo, Sept. 16 (Jiji Press)--Finance ministers and central bank governors from Japan, China and South Korea will hold their first meeting in 28 months on Friday, the Japanese Finance Ministry said Tuesday. The gathering had been held every May before the 2013 meeting was skipped due to Japan-China tensions over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are also claimed by China. The absence of the meeting in May this year was partly because of a fatal South Korean ferry sinking in April that made Seoul extremely busy. The upcoming trilateral meeting will take place in Cairns, Australian, where the finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies, including the three Asian countries, will hold talks over the weekend. Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will attend the trilateral meeting. They will likely discuss the China-proposed Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank with their Chinese and South Korean counterparts. A joint statement is planned to be released after the meeting. Japan hopes that the three-way meeting will help improve ties with China and South Korea that have worsened due to history and territorial issues and lead to bilateral finance ministers' meetings between Japan and its two neighbors. Financial cooperation among the three countries has stalled as they have been unable to hold regular meetings of their financial leaders, leaving unrealized a Japan-China agreement in December 2011 on Japan's purchase of Chinese government bonds. END