Those talks were suspended amid legal, diplomatic, and trade disputes between Seoul and Tokyo over issues dating to Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea. A senior South Korean government official said China has been proactive in seeking trilateral cooperation and arranging meetings since relations soured between Seoul and Beijing in 2017 over the deployment of a U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea. Tuesday's meeting involve South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won, Japanese Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi, and Nong Rong, China's assistant minister of foreign affairs. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a briefing on Monday that China, Japan and South Korea are close neighbours and important cooperative partners, and strengthening trilateral cooperation serves their common interests. The trilateral summits have traditionally involved China's prime minister, but South Korea is also pushing for a separate visit by President Xi Jinping.

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Persons: Park Jin, Japan Takehiro Funakoshi, Foreign Affairs of China Nong Rong, Jung Byung, Yoon Suk Yeol, Fumio Kishida, Joe Biden, Tong Zhao, Zhao, Chung Byung, Takehiro Funakoshi, Nong Rong, Wang Wenbin, Xi Jinping, Josh Smith, Hyonhee, Liz Lee, Gerry Doyle Organizations: South Korean Foreign, Foreign Affairs, Japan, Foreign Affairs of, Political Affairs, South Korean, Carnegie Endowment, International Peace, Thomson Locations: Foreign Affairs of China Nong, SEOUL, South Korea, China, Japan, Washington, Seoul, Tokyo, Korea, Beijing, U.S, United States