China has indicated it will not join a trilateral summit with Japan and South Korea that Japan is chairing, seen as fallout from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's recent Diet remarks on a Taiwan contingency. Japan proposed holding the summit in the first half of January, with South Korea agreeing but China declining.
Multiple diplomatic sources said China has indicated it will not join what was supposed to be a trilateral summit with Japan and South Korea that Japan is chairing. This is believed to be a response to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remark in the Diet about a Taiwan contingency and a “survival-threatening situation.” The Japanese government sounded out China and South Korea on a plan to hold the trilateral summit in the first half of January in Japan, with South Korea agreeing but China declining.
China’s refusal is yet another indication that Sino-Japanese tensions are affecting trilateral cooperation. A meeting of the three countries’ culture ministers scheduled for later this month has also been postponed at China’s request. In September 2012, China refused to hold a trilateral summit after Japan nationalized the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
Separately, China vowed in a letter delivered Friday to the United Nations to take “resolute self-defense” against Japan if it “dared to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait.” Beijing is seeking to rally international support for its position on the self-ruled island it views as its territory. Maki Kobayashi, a senior Japanese government spokeswoman, said Saturday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg, “The claim our country has altered its position is entirely baseless,” calling for more dialogue to prevent ties between Asia’s top economies from spiraling.