Aso to hold bilateral meetings with Chinese, S. Korean leaders Friday

TOKYO, Oct. 21 Kyodo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will hold his first bilateral meetings with
Chinese and South Korean leaders on Friday on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe
Meeting summit in Beijing, with Aso intending to build solid relationships and
confirm cooperation amid global financial turmoil, government officials said
Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, government sources said Tokyo has proposed to hold the first
trilateral summit of Aso, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President
Lee Myung Bak on Dec. 6 or 7 in the city of Fukuoka, which is close to Aso's
constituency.
On the sidelines of the ASEM summit, Aso, who is scheduled to stay in China
from Thursday to Saturday, will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Hu
Jintao and Premier Wen as well as South Korea's Lee on Friday morning,
according to the government officials.
Aso and Lee are expected to confirm their plan to expand human exchange between
the two countries and close cooperation in addressing the current global
financial turmoil.
At bilateral talks with China's two leaders, Aso will confirm promoting
''strategic, mutually beneficial ties'' which were adopted at a meeting between
Hu and Aso's predecessor Yasuo Fukuda in May.
Aso also plans to attend a ceremony Friday to commemorate the 30th anniversary
of the conclusion of the Japan-China peace and friendship treaty, while the
Japanese government is arranging a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel.
During the two-day summit starting Friday, meanwhile, leaders and
representatives of Asian and European countries will take up issues such as the
worldwide financial crisis and global warming as well as international affairs,
including issues regarding North Korea, the officials said.
In Beijing, a meeting by the ASEAN-Plus-Three, comprising the 10 members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan and South Korea, may
also be held, the officials said.
In the proposed trilateral meeting, Aso envisions strengthening their
cooperative stance on denuclearizing North Korea, while discussing ways to
tackle the global financial crisis and climate change, the sources said.
The schedule, however, may be postponed to sometime around Dec. 17, when the
East Asia Summit will be held in Bangkok, if Aso calls a general election by
the end of November as is widely expected, they said.
The trilateral summits had been held on the occasions of ASEAN summits but the
three countries agreed last November to meet in each country in rotation.
The first meeting was to be held in September in Japan but was postponed due to
the abrupt resignation of then Prime Minister Fukuda.
==Kyodo