2015年CRI Three-way Meeting Expected to Help Ease Tensions in E.Asia

Chinese Premier 1 Li Keqiang, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will sit down together on Sunday for their first trilateral meeting since May of 2012.

Historical and territorial 2 issues among the three countries have kept them from coming together until this weekend.

While those issues are still there, Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University in Japan, says the resumption of the trilateral summit could be a signal those tensions may be easing somewhat.

"I think we've had this really long hiatus in regional dialogue and communication principally because of differences over history and also to some extent over overlapping 3 territorial claims. But I think it's a recognition by the leaders of all three countries that the relationship is far too important to hold hostage to history, to some rocky islets in the middle of the ocean."

As leading players in Asia, China, Japan and South Korea make up around 70-percent of all economic output in Asia, and represent 20-percent in the world economy.

Professor Lv Yaodong with the Japanese Studies Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says its this regional clout 4 that should be the focus of this weekend's sessions.

"The purpose of this summit should be to find more common ground among the three nations rather than sorting out their disputes. They can collaborate 5 with each other on issues such as environmental protection and reducing greenhouse gas emissions 6. The three also need to prioritize regional peace and stability ahead of bilateral 7 relations."

Although this is a trilateral session, one of the big political events will take place when South Korean President Park Geun-hye sits down for a one-on-one meeting with Shinzo Abe.

It will be their first bilateral talks since Park took over as President.

She's refused to sit down with him directly since she took office in early 2013 because of comment's he's previously 8 made connected to the contentious 9 issue of "comfort women."

These were sexual slaves used by Japanese troops during World War II.

Professor Park Ihn-hwi with Ewha Woman's University in South Korea says that sit-down will be important for both sides.

"The historical issues have to be worked from a long-term perspective. There seems to be a basic premises 10 for an improvement of South Korea-Japan relations. The the two countries should continue to maintain ties under the theory they cooperate best economically in profitable areas, including trade."

The meetings this weekend will are expected to discuss the potential creation of a trilateral Free Trade Agreement.

Those talks were first launched in early 2013.

However, they've so far made little headway, with concerns among China, South Korea and Japan said to be high in areas such as agricultural and technological 11 imports.

For CRI, I am Wang Mengzhen.