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But a joint statement issued after the meeting of the three leaders did not mention their commitment to the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” as agreed at the previous summit in December 2019 in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu.

At a joint press announcement with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Chinese Premier Li Qiang following the gathering in Seoul, Kishida said that stability on the Korean Peninsula is in the “common interest” of the three Asian countries.

The statement only said, “We reiterated positions on regional peace and stability, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the abductions issue, respectively. We agree to continue to make positive efforts for the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue.”

North Korea said Monday it “strongly denounces and rejects” the joint declaration as “a blatant challenge” to the nation’s sovereignty and “wanton interference in its internal affairs,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry criticized South Korea in a statement carried by KCNA, saying Seoul has brought a “grave security crisis” to the Korean Peninsula “by frantically strengthening military alliance for aggression with hegemonic forces outside the region,” referring to the United States.

The trilateral summit took place with the regional security environment becoming more severe amid nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, which has been bolstering its economic and military ties with China.

The Japanese government said earlier Monday that North Korea has notified Tokyo of its plan to launch a satellite-carrying rocket before June 4. The launch might involve the use of ballistic missile technology, a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

At the outset of the trilateral summit, Kishida urged North Korea to cancel its planned satellite launch, with Yoon, the chair of the meeting, saying it would endanger regional and global peace and stability.

Li, who took office in March 2023, did not touch on the issue, saying only that the role of China, Japan and South Korea is “to promote development, boost cooperation in East Asia and safeguard peace and prosperity in the region and the world.”

The statement also said, “We reaffirmed our commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and to an international order based on the rule of law and international law,” apparently targeting Russia.

The phrase might have been added to the statement as requested by Japan and South Korea despite opposition from China, effectively ruled solely by the Communist Party, as Tokyo and Seoul share common values such as freedom, democracy, and human rights, pundits said.

China has been trying to deepen relations with North Korea and Russia, while Japan and South Korea have been strengthening security cooperation, criticizing Beijing’s increasing military assertiveness and Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Monday, the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China agreed to work together in a wide range of fields, including people-to-people exchanges and economic cooperation, at their first trilateral summit in more than four years.

On the economic front, the three leaders pledged to speed up negotiations toward the signing of a three-way free trade agreement, which stalled in early 2020 against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the joint statement showed.

Kishida, Yoon and Li also reaffirmed that they will join hands to enhance supply chains that are vulnerable to geopolitical tensions, natural disasters and epidemics, causing disruptions in production and business operations.

Nevertheless, the outlook for trade and economic talks is gloomy as it is uncertain how much China will satisfy Japan’s demands to rectify Beijing’s alleged unfair business practices, such as strict information regulations and opaque benefits to state-owned companies.

In principle, the Asian countries hold trilateral summits annually on a rotating basis, but they have occasionally been suspended as Japan’s ties with its two neighbors have soured over historical and territorial disputes.

Recently, Tokyo and Beijing have been at odds over trade after China imposed a blanket ban on Japanese seafood imports in the wake of the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that began in August 2023.

At their bilateral meeting on Sunday, Kishida asked Li for an immediate lifting of the import ban. But Li expressed Beijing’s anxiety about the discharge, referring to the water as “nuclear-contaminated,” according to Chinese state-run media.

Last week, meanwhile, China carried out two-day military drills around Taiwan, arguing that they are a “strong punishment” for those seeking the island’s independence and a “stern warning” to “external forces” against interference and provocation.

The military exercises followed last Monday’s inauguration of Taiwan’s new President Lai Ching-te, whom China condemns as a separatist. He is the leader of the ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.

Kishida said Sunday that he conveyed Japan’s “serious concern” about China’s expanding military activities, emphasizing that Tokyo believes stability in the Taiwan Strait is “crucial” not only for the region but also for the international community.

China’s Foreign Ministry, however, said Li told Kishida that Taiwan is at the “core” of Beijing’s interests and a “red line” that must not be crossed.

The joint statement released after the trilateral summit on Monday did not refer to Taiwan.

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Yoon also held a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during which he urged careful management of the dispute surrounding the popular messaging app Line to prevent it from becoming “an unnecessary pending issue” between the two countries.

The bilateral meetings came a day before the three leaders sit down for their first trilateral summit in four years and five months.

The trilateral summit has been widely accepted as a test bed for gauging if the Northeast Asian neighbors can normalize and restore their cooperative framework. As a prelude to the summit, the leaders engaged in bilateral meetings to narrow their differences in key areas of interest.

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, second from right, during their meeting at the former’s office in central Seoul’s Yongsan District, Sunday. Joint Press Corps

According to South Korean First Deputy Director of National Security Kim Tae-hyo, Yoon and Li agreed to set up a Korea-China security and diplomatic dialogue, with the first session planned for next month.

As a two-plus-two discussion body, the dialogue will involve Seoul’s vice foreign minister, a director-level official from the defense ministry and their Chinese counterparts.

“President Yoon stressed that the two countries should maintain close communications under all circumstances, which will enable them to respect each other, pursue common interests and shape regional peace and prosperity,” Kim said, adding the leaders agreed to resume a string of bilateral dialogues involving both governments and private sectors.

During his opening remarks, Yoon said “South Korea and China should cooperate closely for not only our bilateral relations, but also for the peace and prosperity of the global community” and he hopes “the two countries will continue strengthening their exchanges and cooperation, respecting each other and pursuing mutual interests.”

This was Li’s first visit to Korea after he became premier in March last year. The previous meeting between Yoon and Li was in September last year on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The meeting bears significance as the two countries have been working to improve their bilateral relations, which have been facing difficulties in the wake of the escalating rivalry between the United States and China, South Korea’s growing inclination toward the U.S. and North Korea’s increasing belligerence.

Regarding North Korea, Yoon stressed that China should play its role in containing the regime’s growing missile and nuclear threats.

“Yoon asked China, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, to play its role as the bastion of peace, amid the North’s repeated provocations and military cooperation with Russia,” a senior presidential official said.

First Deputy Director of National Security Kim Tae-hyo speaks during a press briefing on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s bilateral meetings with the leaders of China and Japan at the presidential office in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap

On the economic front, Yoon and Li agreed to promote bilateral trade and economic partnerships, by resuming the second phase of their free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.

The South Korea-China FTA will mark its 10th anniversary next year, but its effectiveness has been questioned due to the relatively narrow range of products subjected to tariff benefits compared to South Korea’s other free trade pacts.

To this end, the two sides’ representatives will meet early next month to resuscitate the stalled negotiations. The second phase will cover a broader range of exchanges between the two countries in the fields of culture, tourism and legal services.

To further promote exchanges, the two sides also agreed to resume the South Korea-China Investment Cooperation Committee, which has been inactive since 2011.

“During the past three decades of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the bilateral relations promptly achieved abundant progress, especially in the fields of economy and trade, bringing huge benefits to the people of both countries,” Li said during his opening remarks. “China wishes to work together with South Korea so that the two countries can become reliable and good neighbors and partners who support each other’s success.”

President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before their summit at the former’s office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap

Hours later, Yoon sat down with Kishida and exchanged cordial remarks over their efforts to mend the two countries’ soured relations last year. They also explored ideas on enhancing bilateral partnerships in practical areas before the two countries celebrate the 60th anniversary of normalizing their diplomatic ties next year.

It was the first Yoon-Kishida summit this year, after they had seven summits last year alone as part of the two countries’ efforts to normalize their diplomatic relations.

During the summit, the leaders also exchanged their opinions on the controversy surrounding the Japanese administrative guidance issued to LY Corp., the operator of the popular messaging app Line, which is controlled by a 50-50 joint venture between South Korea’s Naver and Japan’s SoftBank.

The guidance, issued in March and again in April, urged LY Corp. to review its capital relationship with Naver following a massive data leak of user information last November, triggering controversies and criticisms in South Korea that the Japanese government is seeking to take Line away from Naver.

“Yoon said that he understands the guidance does not mean that Naver should sell down its stake, and the South Korean government perceives this issue separately from the diplomatic relations between the two countries,” the senior official said.

“The president thus said that the two countries should manage this issue carefully to prevent it from becoming an unnecessary pending issue.”

Kishida replied that the guidance is understood in line with the Japanese government’s stance to promote foreign companies’ investments into Japan, and it is aimed at guiding the company to review its “security governance related to the data leak,” according to the official.

During the summit, the leaders also agreed to establish a bilateral dialogue on the hydrogen economy within next month, to capitalize on the two countries’ respective expertise in hydrogen energy. The dialogue will explore bilateral cooperation for setting up hydrogen energy standards and policies.

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With a meeting coming up this week between the foreign ministers of the two nations, spurring ongoing discussions for the high-stakes trilateral summit, Seoul has apparently opted for a cautious approach toward the North Korean defector issue to avoid triggering further tensions.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will embark on a two-day visit to Beijing, Monday, the first visit in more than six years by a top South Korean diplomat to the Chinese capital.

The Yoon Suk Yeol government has consistently urged Beijing to refrain from repatriating North Korean escapees against their will, but this has been significantly toned down — even though China recently sent back dozens of North Korean defectors.

The Korean Unification Solidarity, an organization for North Korean refugees, claimed last week that around 200 North Korean refugees who were apprehended in northeast China’s Jilin province were forcibly sent back to their reclusive home country on April 26. According to the international organization Human Rights Watch, the Chinese government forcibly returned about 60 North Korean refugees in a similar period.

However, the South Korean government has refrained from issuing an official condemnation of China’s recent actions, a departure from its previous practices.

The Ministry of Unification reiterated its position that North Korean defectors should not be returned against their will under any circumstances, without officially confirming the speculation.

This marks a shift from the ministry’s response last October when the Chinese government repatriated at least 500 North Korean defectors following the Hangzhou Asian Games. At that time, the unification ministry officially acknowledged the repatriation just two days after human rights organizations raised the speculation, and said, “We have strongly raised this issue with the Chinese government and regret the situation.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to confirm whether South Korea has lodged a protest to China through diplomatic channels regarding the latest repatriation that occurred in April, stating that “related discussions with China have been ongoing at various levels.”

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul speaks during a closing ceremony for a meeting of South Korean overseas diplomatic mission chiefs at the ministry headquarters in Seoul, April 26. Yonhap

Lee Sang-man, a Chinese affairs expert at the Kyungnam University Institute for Far Eastern Studies, suggested that it is unlikely South Korea has lodged a strong protest with China, nor will Minister Cho bring up the issue during his upcoming meeting with Wang.

Lee viewed that the seemingly restrained response is aimed at avoiding any disruption to the preparations for the upcoming trilateral summit, which is likely to be held in Seoul from May 26 to 27.

Amid enhancing trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, China has shown reluctance to participate in the event, the rotating chair of which is currently held by Korea. The last such summit took place in 2019.

“The primary objective of Cho’s visit is to lay the groundwork for the summit. Bringing up the issue of North Korean escapees, where reaching common ground between the two sides is elusive, would not be a good idea. It’s important for Seoul to keep efforts to find common priorities with China for the summit,” Lee said.

Lee also viewed that South Korea’s repeated demands for China to halt the repatriation have not yielded desired results, as Beijing sometimes uses the North Korean refugee issue as diplomatic leverage against Seoul.

“The trilateral meeting, if held, would be meaningful in spurring the long-stalled three-way cooperation. However, consensus on security matters would be challenging to achieve. Less sensitive topics such as people-to-people exchanges, environmental issues and cyberspace could offer areas of agreement,” he noted.

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Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to France, recently appeared on French television. He described China’s repression against Uighurs — a Turkic ethnic group — as “storytelling,” “lies” and “bullshit.” What he denied, however, are official Chinese data. Has the country been betrayed by its own bureaucracy?

As a matter of fact, bureaucracy is often the Achilles heel of totalitarian systems. Analysis of certain Chinese data may suggest foul play; it is more eloquent on the situation in the Xinjiang region than Lu. That is unsurprising, as the ambassador is best known for his diatribes in defense of China, and he vigorously rejects everything that harms Beijing’s interests.

Official statistics suggest Uighur genocide

China is responsible for the mass internment of Uighurs in Xinjiang, which the country legitimizes by the needs of a firm and repressive anti-terrorist policy. In May 2022, Lu had already stood out by drastically downplaying the attacks on this population’s rights in prisons or detention centers. He called them “interns” in “educational and professional training centers.”

Beyond this, China is accused of torture and forced sterilizations against these populations. Committing these atrocities would act directly on the demographics of a particular ethnic group. As stated in Article II of the UN’s Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: “Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Murder of group members; (b) Serious attacks on the physical or mental integrity of members of the group; (c) Intentional subjection of the group to conditions of existence intended to bring about its total or partial physical destruction; (d) Measures aimed at hindering births within the group; (e) Forced transfer of children from the group to another group.”

The last two acts listed are likely to worry China, knowing that there is no need for murder or mass extermination to define a genocidal policy. The country has vehemently rejected these accusations for years. But to Lu and China’s chagrin, the most compelling evidence of their misconduct comes from China itself. The National Bureau of Statistics of China tells us, for example, that the natural increase rate — the difference between the birth rate and the death rate — in the province of Xinjiang increased from 11.08 per 1,000 in 2016 to 11.40 in 2017, and suddenly dropped to 6.13 in 2018, then finally fell to 3.69 in 2019.

As China rightly maintains, Xinjiang’s overall population continues to grow, but more slowly than before. The rate of natural growth of a region with 25 million inhabitants was reduced by roughly two-thirds in just two years. With the mortality rate barely changing, this decline is largely due to the drop in the birth rate between 2017 and 2019, falling from 15.88 per 1,000 in 2017 to 8.14 in 2019, a reduction of 47% in two years. The birth rate would have fallen below six per 1,000 in 2020, but this figure is difficult to confirm; China stopped detailing its statistics after 2020. The 2021 edition no longer provides birth rates by region, instead listing only the national rate for the entirety of China.

China’s unsourced explanation

China has an explanation for the decline: This drop of almost 50% would be the consequence of women’s minds being “emancipated” as “gender equality and reproductive health [have] been promoted.” This assertion is based on a single source: a 2021 report on Xinjiang. Special researcher Li Xiaoxia produced this report at the Xinjiang Development Research Center. General media owned by the Chinese state published it, not a peer-reviewed publication. The report provides no data or sources, simply stating, for example: “fertile women accept tubal ligation and IUD operation spontaneously.” It goes on to add: “In 2018, both fertility rate and natural growth rate of ethnic minority population (the [Uighur] population in particular) in Xinjiang decreased significantly. All of these can be attributed to the strict implementation of the family planning policy.” The terms “spontaneously” and “strict implementation” should be clearly and concretely explained.

Beijing’s line of defense can be summed up thus: China has succeeded in achieving an “accelerated demographic transition” in Xinjiang. Except that, normally, this type of phenomenon takes at least a few generations. One would hardly find a demographer who has witnessed such a major birth rate drop elsewhere in the world over such a short period. Not even Iraq in the 2000s, Syria since 2011, Yemen currently or Germany after 1944 compare.

There is currently no satisfactory, legitimate explanation for such a massive drop in the Uighur birth rate. This opens the door to accusations of genocide about which China is already beginning to erase its statistical traces. The country’s real intentions make this situation distressing. The birth rate risks becoming the Chinese power’s main problem for decades to come. Such repression of births of a particular ethnic group is a subject of international interest on which Chinese denials are now bordering on negationism.

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Xu Zhibin, deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said China will steadily promote the two-way opening of the capital market and continue to strengthen the interconnection between domestic and overseas financial markets.

“We will steadily expand the institutional opening-up in terms of rules, regulations, management, standards and expand the scope and varieties to attract more foreign investors to invest in China’s financial market,” Xu told a roundtable on Asian financial market development and financial globalization on Friday during the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2024.

Held in Boao, Hainan province, the forum kicked off on Tuesday and concluded on Friday.

To further expand financial opening-up, China will support high-quality Chinese enterprises to go public overseas and issue offshore bonds for financing. And it will also encourage China’s sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions and other financial entities to carry out outbound investments in an orderly manner, so as to effectively improve the efficiency of the utilization of both international and domestic resources, Xu said.

More efforts will also be made to further improve the system for foreign investment management based on pre-establishment national treatment and negative list, and introduce more policies to facilitate cross-border investment across the globe.

During the roundtable, Lkhagvasuren Byadran, governor of the Bank of Mongolia, highlighted the importance of deepening regional financial cooperation, calling for more steps to strengthen monetary cooperation to facilitate trade.

“I believe that establishing a comprehensive framework, including smaller Asian countries, would benefit economies by promoting liquidity in the market and by enhancing the facilitation of regional trade,” Byadran said.

Carl Fey, professor of strategy at BI Norwegian Business School, spoke highly of China’s ongoing efforts to expand high-standard opening-up. “The progress is very impressive in the right direction.”

Ben Simpfendorfer, a partner at consultancy Oliver Wyman, noted many Chinese investors are seeking to expand their overseas investment, which will also help promote globalization.

“We’re starting to see signs of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers beginning to invest in production (overseas),” he said. “These types of investments are really important to globalization because we need to move beyond just pure exports into regional investments.”

Zafar Uddin Mahmood, policy adviser to the secretary-general of the Boao Forum for Asia and former special assistant to the Pakistani prime minister, said the Pakistani government hopes that China’s financial — and business-related enterprises can visit Pakistan to realize the wide range of growth opportunities in the country.

“Chinese financial institutions are very welcome in Pakistan,” he said. “For example, Chinese banks can set up branches and other relevant companies that can engage with the so-called non-banking financial services.”

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China’s first home grown hydrogen energy urban train successfully completed its test run on a trial line at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour in Changchun, northeast China’s Jilin Province on Thursday. The maximum cruising range of the train is over 1,000 km.

The average energy consumption of the train is 5 kWh per km, which is on par with world leading levels.

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The votes of Russia and China, two of the permanent Security Council members, counted as vetoes.

Before the vote, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said his country backs an immediate ceasefire, but questioned the language in the resolution.

He said the US resolution did not directly demand a ceasefire but rather “determines the imperative” of a ceasefire.

“To save the lives of the peaceful Palestinian civilians, this is not enough,” Nebenzia said. Any Security Council member voting for the resolution “will cover yourselves in disgrace,” the Russian ambassador said.

Pointing out that the US had vetoed three ceasefire resolutions and one Russian amendment since the bombardment of Gaza started in October, the Russian diplomat said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield are “misleading the international community” for “politicized” reasons.

Nebenzia accused the US of a “hypocritical spectacle,” saying the proposal contained an “effective green light” for Israel to launch a military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than half of the population of 2.4 million has been forcibly displaced.

China’s representative, Zhang Jun, also censured the draft, saying it “dodged the most central issue, that of a ceasefire” through its “ambiguous” language.

“Nor does it even provide an answer to the question of realizing a ceasefire in the short term.”

Commenting on Algeria’s rejection of the US resolution, the Algerian Ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, also underscored the absence of a direct demand for an immediate ceasefire.

“The text presented today does not convey a clear message of peace,” Bendjama told the Council. “It is a laissez passer to continue killing the Palestinian civilians.”

Separately, the 10 elected members of the Security Council have been drafting another resolution with a direct demand for a ceasefire, but the US envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Washington would veto that text if it was presented for a vote.

The US diplomat claimed it would jeopardize the ongoing negotiations in Qatar on a deal which would establish a ceasefire in return for the release of the Israeli captives taken by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

Israel launched the campaign in Gaza on October 7 after Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the decades-long Israeli campaign of bloodletting and devastation against the Palestinians.

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“I would be very confident that early in the new year we will get a favorable result from the Chinese authorities to lift the ban on Australian wine,” Trade Minister Don Farrell told Sky News television on Sunday.

“That’ll be very important for Australian winemakers; we’re coming into the processing season.”

The comments come after the two sides in October announced they had reached a consensus to settle a World Trade Organisation dispute about wine and that anti-dumping tariffs, which were not set to expire until 2026, would be reviewed.

Australia lodged a complaint over China’s tariffs on its wine at the WTO in 2021. Until the tariffs, China was Australia’s top wine export market, peaking at A$1.2 billion ($804 million) for the 12 months to January 2020.

In November, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited China, the first visit by a sitting Australian leader since 2016 as the center-left Labor government continued to work on stabilizing strained ties with Beijing.

China has now lifted trade blocks on most Australian exports imposed in the wake of Australia’s call for an international investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

($1 = 1.4934 Australian dollars)

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