China, Japan, South Korea meet as North Korean threat looms

Leers from China, Japan and South Korea were meeting Tuesday against backdrop of increasing threats from rth Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. trilateral meeting in southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu comes amid demands by Pyongyang for sanctions relief by end of year and threats that it may take unspecified actions if that relief is t forthcoming. assembled leers — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in — are also expected to discuss furring regional cooperation on ecomy, environment and people-to-people exchanges.

trilateral summits date back to fallout from 1997 Asian financial crisis, which devastated businesses across region and prompted moves toward greater ecomic integration. three countries account for about 24 percent of world tre, and have tightly-bound supply chains, with more than $720 billion in tre moving between m last year.

With Trump ministration’s abandonment of Trans-Pacific Partnership, China has led a push for an alternative 16-nation grouping, Regional Comprehensive Ecomic Partnership. Momentum toward a final agreement hit a snag this year when chief Chinese rival India said it would t participate, and future of pact remains unclear.

On rth Korea, Pyongyang has said that what “Christmas gift” it gives U.S. depends on Washington’s actions. Speculation has centered on possibility of a new missile test, possibly of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhe and reaching United States or its allies.

Although China is Pyongyang’s most important source of investment, diplomatic support and ecomic aid, it has shown little success in convincing Kim Jong Un’s regime to abandon its nuclear arsenal. U.S. has demanded steps toward complete denuclearization before any sanctions can be lifted, while Beijing favors a multi-st approach.

is friction among three nations meeting Tuesday as well.

While Japan and China have lately set aside ir historical differences, South Korea and Japan continue to feud over Japan’s colonization of peninsula in last century, a dispute w spilling over into ir vital ecomic relationship.