South Korea hosts Japan, China as US allies try to reassure Beijing

South Korea hosted senior diplomats from China and Japan for a rare trilateral meeting on Tuesday seen as aimed at assuaging Beijing’s concerns over the two U.S. allies’ tightening cooperation between themselves and Washington.
The meeting aims in part to set the stage for the resumption of three-way summits among the countries’ leaders, which were last held in 2019. Those talks were suspended amid legal, diplomatic and trade disputes between Seoul and Tokyo over issues dating to Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have since taken steps to mend ties and in August held a historic trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, where the three vowed to boost cooperation, including on defence and economic security.