Instead, the regional spotlight has been stolen by North Korea following Kim Jong Un’s breakthrough meeting with Moon last month and the unprecedented summit he plans to hold with US President Donald Trump. While China, Japan and South Korea each have an intense interest in resolving the standoff over Kim’s nuclear weapons program, their differing approaches make it hard to agree on anything substantive. Abe also wants to ensure that his concerns about Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago are taken seriously. Tensions between China and Japan escalated in 2012, when Japan nationalized part of a chain of disputed islands close to Taiwan. The move sparked sometimes violent anti-Japanese demonstrations in China, and damaged trade and investment ties between Asia’s two biggest economies.

Source: Mint May 09, 2018 04:30 UTC