China, Japan and South Korea announced on Tuesday that they will hold their seventh trilateral foreign ministers' meeting later this month, resuming the annual top diplomats' gathering after a two-year hiatus.

Following the sixth gathering in May 2012, Japan damaged its ties with China and South Korea because of historical and territorial issues.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the meeting is scheduled for Saturday in Seoul. It will bring together Foreign Minsiter Wang Yi, his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida and South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se.

They will look at the progress of trilateral cooperation, and views will be exchanged on topics such as "the principles that the three countries should subscribe to for cooperation as well as the directions of future development", Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

Observers responded with guarded optimism, partly because Tokyo has yet to give up its downplaying of wartime atrocities, which may diminish its hope of quickly mending its fragile trust with Beijing and Seoul.

Zhang Jingquan, a professor of Northeast Asian studies at Jilin University in Changchun, said the three countries are "exercising pragmatism" with the hard-won reunion of top diplomats.

Zhang said the historical issue "will definitely be put on the agenda".

"Japan is expected to send some promising signals and display sincerity as the 70th anniversary of victory in the world's anti-fascist war is approaching," Zhang said.

Diplomatic missions have held consultations at various levels to resume the gathering, including a vice-minister level trilateral consultation earlier this month.

Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenmin said at the consultation on March 11 in Seoul that China hopes the three countries can subscribe to the idea of "proactively promoting cooperation and, in the meantime, not shy away from problems" when they are preparing for the upcoming meeting.

Although the trilateral free trade agreement negotiation has been - in Liu's words - "progressing at a steady pace", Japan's Kyodo News Agency noted that Japan's relations with the two neighboring countries "continue to be strained over territorial rows as well as Tokyo's perception of history".

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe infuriated victimized Asian neighbors, including China and South Korea, and disappointed its traditional ally the United States after he made a pilgrimage to the Yasukuni Shrine in 2013, which endorses Class-A war criminals.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon, speaking at a Monday event in Tokyo marking the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, called the lack of reconciliation with China, Japan and South Korea "a missing link" in Northeast Asian peace and stability.

Ban urged leaders of the three neighbors to foster forward-looking ties while remembering the past.

Zhang, the professor, said the most ideal scenario following the trilateral ministers' meeting would be that Japan makes a commitment - either publicly or behind the scenes - to "no further distressing its victimized neighbors with its historical revisionist agenda".

Xinhua News Agency noted that Abe, speaking after Ban at the event, said Japan is built on "deep regret over the past war", and then quickly moved on to depict his country as a peace-loving nation without further elaboration of Japan's responsibility for waging the war.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/18/2015 page3)