Abe May Hold Talks with Obama, Xi, Putin Later This Month

Tokyo, Nov. 9 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government has started work to arrange bilateral summits between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and leaders of the United States, China and Russia on the sidelines of a series of major international meetings to be held abroad later this month, informed sources said Monday. At the possible meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Abe is hoping to reconfirm close cooperation between Japan and the United States over the situation in the South China Sea and other difficult issues, the sources said. Abe is eager to have frank discussions on pending issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the sources said. Abe is scheduled to attend a two-day summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies in Turkey from Sunday, an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in the Philippines on Nov. 18-19, and some of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related summits starting on Nov. 21 in Malaysia. In his speech at an annual meeting of the U.S.-Japan Council, a group of Japanese-Americans, in Tokyo on Monday, Abe said that Japan hopes to work closely with the United States for the success of the series of international meetings. At a meeting the same day of officials of the Japanese government and the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition, he said, "I want to hold bilateral talks with leaders of countries participating in the international meetings to promote the friendship between Japan and these countries." The Abe-Obama meeting would be the first since the United States dispatched an Aegis destroyer late last month to areas around one of the artificial islands China has built in the South China Sea to boost its territorial claims in the sea. Abe is expected to express Tokyo's support for Washington's "freedom of navigation operation," the sources said. Abe and Obama are likely to confirm the two countries' intentions to put the Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade pact into effect at an early date. Japan, the United States and 10 other countries reached a broad TPP accord in October. Through the envisioned meeting with Xi, Abe hopes to solidify moves toward improvement in Japan-China relations, which have soured due to history and other issues, the sources said. Abe is expected to convey Tokyo's concerns over the South China Sea situation to Xi, the sources said. Abe also plans to call for an early restart of stalled bilateral negotiations on proposed joint gas development in the East China Sea, according to the sources. With Putin, Abe hopes to commence work to rearrange the Russian leader's visit to Japan, as his visit within this year, a scenario envisioned by Japan, has now become difficult, the sources said. Abe is also seen asking Putin to exercise his leadership at home, to give impetus to deadlocked Russo-Japanese negotiations on the decades-old territorial dispute over four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands, which are claimed by Japan, the sources said. The islands were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II. The issue has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from concluding a peace treaty to formally end their wartime hostilities. South Korean President Park Geun-hye is also slated to attend the G-20, APEC and ASEAN-related summits. Abe may have some conversations with Park although an official meeting between them may not be set up, the sources said. In Seoul on Nov. 2, Abe and Park held their first official bilateral summit since they took office, in December 2012 and February 2013, respectively, and agreed to make efforts to improve the two countries' relations, which have been strained due to history and territorial issues. END