Lee to push tripartite summit with Japan and China next week

By Yoo Cheong-mo

SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak will push to hold three-way talks with the leaders of Japan and China in Beijing next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to discuss closer regional cooperation in the face of global financial unrest, Lee's top foreign policy advisor said Tuesday.

"Lee will seek to hold a tripartite meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso to discuss closer financial policy cooperation
among the three countries," the advisor said in a meeting with reporters on
condition of anonymity.
"Depending on the situation, Lee and Aso could also hold a bilateral summit
there. Besides ASEM, the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China are expected to
have three more chances to get together at multilateral talks, including APEC in
November and ASEAN Plus Three in December, by the end of this year," said the
advisor.
The seventh ASEM summit is to take place in Beijing Oct. 24-25. The summit is
composed of leaders from Asian countries and the 27 members of the European Union
and has been held every two years since 1998, with the second summit held in
Seoul in 2000.
President Lee said last week that he will be ready to meet with Japanese and
Chinese leaders on the sidelines of the ASEM summit to discuss concerted
countermeasures to the global financial crisis. Lee also stressed that the three
East Asian countries, which boast the world's largest foreign currency reserves,
will be able to overcome the financial crisis through closer cooperation.