S. Korea, Japan should continue to engage China in dialogue: ex-Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda

By Kim Han-joo and Kim Ji-yeon

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has emphasized that the leaders of South Korea and Japan should continue to engage China in dialogue to solve regional issues, as he praised a recent trilateral summit between the leaders of the three neighboring countries.

“The responsibility to guide China in acting like a major power lies with South Korea and Japan,” Fukuda said Thursday in an interview on the sidelines of the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, an annual international peace forum held on South Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju.

On Monday, President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Seoul, marking the first trilateral session since December 2019.

Fukuda, known for his advocacy for improved relations with China, also mentioned that regional issues could have been resolved earlier if the dialogue had continued.

“Through this summit, we should expect China to adopt a different attitude than before,” he said, forecasting that China’s participation in the recent talks could lead to it taking on more responsibility as the world’s second-largest economy.

Fukuda, who served as the prime minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008, also commented on Japan’s recent military buildup, calling it a reasonable move and dismissing concerns about an arms race.

Tokyo has recently increased its military budget, a shift from its history of keeping security spending low due to its constitutional commitment to avoid war.

“I don’t believe Japan needs to or will enter into an arms race,” he said.

Japan has announced its decision to raise defense spending to 2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027, a 60 percent increase over five years. This would give the country the third-largest defense budget in the world.

“It’s in line with global standards,” he said, citing examples such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization members, which aim to spend over 2 percent of their GDP on military expenditures.