PHILIPPINES: Chinese, Japanese and South Korean ministers meet in Cebu, North Korea on the agenda

Senior diplomats from China, South Korea and Japan had a huddle on Friday (January 12, 2007) ahead of an East Asia summit over how to make progress at the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and deputy foreign minister of Japan Katsuhito Asano on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit being held in Cebu. Relations among the regional powers have taken a leap forward, China's foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said afterward, after fraught times of a year when Japan was barely on speaking terms with its neighbours. Li said in his opening statement that with new developments in relations, the three countries should grab this opportunity to further develop cooperation between the three sides. Asano sat standing in for his boss, foreign minister Taro Aso. "In general, up to now we have made progress in areas such as the environment and fighting international crime, issues which countries on their own are not able to tackle," said Asano. It was the first trilateral meeting since Shinzo Abe took over as Japan's prime minister in the middle of last year. Aso, was unable to attend the rescheduled summit in the Philippines, which was postponed last month ostensibly due to a typhoon but after bomb warnings from Western governments. Japan had upset its neighbours under former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi with repeated visits to the Yasukuni war shrine, seen as a symbol of Japan's militarism. But Abe has worked hard over the past six months since succeeding Koizumi to repair ties with his neighbours and is charting a bolder diplomatic role for Japan, which has traditionally kept a low security profile since World War Two. The three, meeting ahead of their leaders' arrival for a summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations, are among the six countries taking part in the talks over North Korea's nuclear programme. They talked about ways to move ahead in implementing an agreement reached in September, 2004 that offered North Korea aid and security guarantees in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons programmes, the South Korean foreign minister said. But Song added that it was a little early to disclose any details about that discussion, saying it would be better if the next round opened earlier. Song has said this week that the United States and North Korea would have talks about a U.S. crackdown on Pyognyang's finances in the week of Jan. The North cited the curbs as its reason for boycotting the six-way discussions for more than a year. South Korean officials said activity had been spotted near a suspected nuclear test site in North Korea but there was no evidence to suggest Pyongyang was about to test again. The North conducted its first test in October. END

ITN Source | January 12, 2007

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