China, Japan, S. Korea agree to ease rising regional tension+

JEJU, South Korea, May 30 Kyodo -
The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea agreed Sunday that they will work
closely to ease rising tension after the sinking of a South Korean warship by a
North Korean torpedo in March and avoid a clash on the Korean Peninsula.
But China maintained its position of not condemning North Korea during the
annual trilateral summit on South Korea's Jeju Island.
''We have reached a common understanding that the sinking is a very serious
issue for stability in Northeast Asia,'' said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama,
who spoke first at a joint news conference shortly after the two-day summit,
standing next to his counterparts.
Hatoyama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak
mainly discussed the aftermath of the ship sinking on the second day of the
summit.
Lee, chair of the summit, is seeking to take the issue to the U.N. Security
Council after South Korea, based on a multinational investigation, concluded
earlier this month that a North Korean submarine had fired a torpedo that sank
the 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette on March 26, killing 46 sailors.
Lee said he expects ''Japan and China, as very responsible members of the
international community, to wisely deal with the issue,'' alluding to the need
for more support from Beijing, Pyongyang's sole major ally.
Despite Pyongyang's claims of innocence, countries such as Japan, South Korea
and the United States are uniting against the reclusive regime.
A strong commitment from China is seen as crucial for any international action
against the North as it is one of the Security Council's five veto-wielding
members.
During the news conference, Wen said, ''The pressing task for now is to
properly handle the serious impact caused by the incident, gradually ease
tension over it, and avoid a conflict'' on the divided peninsula.
Wen said any development in East Asia would not be possible without peace and
stability on the peninsula and China will ''actively involve'' itself in
addressing the tragedy.
Hatoyama, who has already shown his support for taking up the issue in the
Security Council, said at the meeting that the whole international community
needs to stand on the side of South Korea, according to Japanese government
officials.
But China, as well as South Korea, stopped short of mentioning whether the
incident, which took place near the disputed maritime border with the North,
should be brought before the United Nations, the officials said.
Hatoyama and Wen will hold bilateral talks Monday in Tokyo, in which the
Cheonan disaster will likely be high on the agenda.
Besides issues related to North Korea, the three leaders on Sunday exchanged
views on climate change, regional cooperation, global economic issues, nuclear
nonproliferation and disarmament, and U.N. reform, the officials said, adding
several documents regarding the East Asian neighbors' ongoing efforts to deepen
their ties have been adopted.
One document is named ''Trilateral Cooperation Vision 2020,'' and presents
goals and visions the countries aim to achieve through cooperation over the
next 10 years.
The leaders confirmed that ''there still remains great room for the development
of the trilateral cooperation in promoting the exchange of people, goods,
services and capital, and in the field of regional and global issues.''
The leaders said they remain committed to the development of an East Asian
community as a long term goal. The idea of creating a single economic bloc,
with the three countries forming the core, has been advocated since Hatoyama
took office last summer.
The countries will also explore the possibility of launching trilateral
dialogue on security issues to promote exchanges among their defense or
military personnel, according to the document.
To help realize the next-decade vision, they agreed to establish a permanent
secretariat in South Korea in 2011 in order to better coordinate their
activities given that there are already 17 ministerial meetings, combined with
some 50 dialogue programs.
The trilateral summit was held for the first time in 1999 in the style of an
informal breakfast gathering on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations plus the three countries.
China, Japan and South Korea in 2008 agreed to hold trilateral meetings every
year in their countries in rotation in an attempt to enhance their mutual trust
and partnership in a future-oriented manner.
The latest summit in Jeju was the third of its kind held not on the sidelines
of an international conference.
==Kyodo
2010-05-30 22:51:34


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