US-Japan-China talks to focus on key issues

By Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-08 07:34

A party for two may now turn into a round table for three.

The world's three largest economies - the US, Japan and China - are expected to hold unprecedented trilateral talks next month to find solutions to issues of common interest.

The first three-way policy dialogue will be held in Washington in July, Japan's Kyoto News quoted diplomatic sources as saying on the eve of a key economic meeting of top ministers from China and Japan that ended Sunday.

China's Foreign Ministry did not respond Sunday to an inquiry about the trilateral meeting. But a source close to the situation told China Daily that the dialogue, which has been raised several times in recent years, is set to be held next month.

Kyodo News portrayed the new dialogue framework as a "pivotal multilateral forum" in East Asia for the future.

The Japanese media reported that Tokyo will be represented by Koro Bessho, deputy vice foreign minister and director general of Japan's Foreign Policy Bureau at the Foreign Ministry, and the United States by Anne-Marie Slaughter, the State Department's policy planning director. A similar-ranking diplomat from Beijing is likely to join the dialogue.

The agenda will include the overall Asian situation and global issues such as climate change and energy, said the report. "I believe officials at the first talk will pay more attention to what to start with, but the talk will relieve some of Japan's worries over Sino-US cooperation and also China's concerns on the impact of close allies US and Japan," said Professor Zhu Feng, a researcher on East Asia studies at the School of International Studies of Peking University.

"With the financial crisis and the touchy issue of the Korean Peninsula, which brings up issues of security, nations in the region certainly need a long-term strategy via discussions," said Pang Zhongying, an international relations expert at Renmin University of China.

Zhu added that a similar trilateral meeting between the US, China and the Republic of Korea may also be set up in the near future, given the close bonds between nations in East Asia.

Japan-China talks

Japan and China pledged Sunday in Tokyo to throw their combined weight behind efforts to revive the struggling world economy, and aimed to boost trade and investment between the two nations, both top trade partners and competitors for resources.

In the second Japan-China High-Level Economic Dialogue, attended by eight heavyweight ministers from the diplomatic, financial and economic fields, both Asian economic giants called for a resumption of stalled international talks to free up global trade and said they would for the first time launch joint assistance programs for developing countries.