Xi Jinping and Park Geun-hye also shared
their countries' common painful past under Japanese militarism
The
presidents of China and the Republic of Korea shared their nations' concerns
over Japan's new military policy on Friday, days after Tokyo announced a
landmark shift in its military stance.
They
also shared their countries' common painful past under Japanese militarism.
Observers
said the two leaders' position, with President Xi Jinping's suggestion of joint
memorial activities to mark their nations' victory over Japan, signals a subtle
change in East Asian geopolitics.
Xi,
making a two-day visit to Seoul, met his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye
at a special luncheon meeting, their second meeting in two days.
His
visit follows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's announcement on Tuesday that
Japan's military has the right to collective self-defence and troop deployment
overseas, marking a radical change in the country's postwar pacifist stance.
Ju
Chul-ki, senior foreign affairs and security adviser to Park, said the two
presidents called attention to the fact that many countries and more than half
of the Japanese people oppose the reinterpretation.
Xi and
Park also voiced regrets over Japan's recent review of the 1993 apology for
wartime sex slavery, saying the review was aimed at "damaging and
disparaging" the apology.
The Kono
Statement, an official apology made by then Japanese chief cabinet secretary
Yohei Kono in 1993, acknowledged that Japan was involved in forcing more than
200,000 women, mostly Koreans, to serve in military brothels.
On June
20, the Japanese Cabinet announced the results of its reexamination of the
statement. It said the ROK government intervened in the wording of the apology,
indicating this was the result of closed-door political dealings.
Xi and
Park also agreed that international coordination to resolve the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea nuclear issue can be breached if sanctions imposed
on Pyongyang for its nuclear programme are mishandled.
The
Japanese Cabinet last week agreed to ease sanctions on the DPRK after Pyongyang
formed a team to reinvestigate the whereabouts of Japanese citizens it
kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s.
Xi said
in an address at Seoul National University earlier in the day, "When the
war against Japan was at its most intense, the Chinese and Korean people shared
their suffering and helped each other with sweat and blood.
"Past
experience, if not forgotten, is a guide for the future," he said while
meeting ROK National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa. "In line with that
spirit, the two countries can jointly hold memorial activities next year."
Next
year marks the 70th anniversary of victory in China's War of Resistance Against
Japanese Aggression, and of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japan's
colonial rule.
Chung
said the ROK's National Assembly proposed setting up a joint committee to
examine and study the history of the ROK, China and Japan and to ensure that
what happened in the past is correctly understood, recorded and recognised.
Seoul's
Yonhap News Agency said Xi's remarks "stress the necessity for the two
countries to jointly respond to Japan's denial on its crimes committed in
war".
Tokyo
was quick to respond to events in Seoul.
"Any
attempt by China and South Korea to coordinate in picking apart past history
unnecessarily and making it an international issue is utterly unhelpful for
building peace and cooperation in the region," Yoshihide Suga, chief
cabinet secretary, told reporters.
But
Huang Youfu, a professor of Korean studies at Minzu University of China in
Beijing, said China and the ROK are not merely targeting Japan's war crimes,
but its refusal to acknowledge that they occurred.
"Indeed,
the ROK and Japan are allies of the US. But the fact that the ROK has not
agreed to join the National Missile Defence project reflects that it wants to
keep a balanced position between the US and China, as its economic interests
lie more with the latter."
Jin
Canrong, deputy dean at the School of International Studies at Renmin
University of China, said relations between Beijing and Seoul are
"enjoying their best momentum in history".
"This
has been nurtured especially in the past year by the similar situation they
face when it comes to dealing with Japan," Jin said.
He said
the stronger bonds between the two increasingly powerful countries will benefit
regional stability.
Jin
added that China and the ROK have been careful not to alienate the US or to
suggest that their strengthening ties in any way weaken ties with Washington.
Xi also
said in his speech that powers outside the region are welcome to share its
common prosperity.
Li
Xiaokun and Wu Jiao
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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