STORY: Leaders from China, Japan, and South Korea met for their first three-way talks in four years on Monday in Seoul.
South Korean officials said that country President Yoon Suk Yeol, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will adopt a joint statement on six key areas including economy and trade, science and technology and people-to-people exchanges.
Li hailed the talks as a "restart and a new beginning."
The rare summit comes amid global tensions that have strained trade and security dialogues between East Asia's economic powerhouses.
China and U.S.-allied South Korea and Japan are trying to manage rising distrust amid the rivalry between Beijing and Washington and tensions over democratically ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own.
Yoon and Kishida have charted a closer course with each other and to Washington, embarking on unprecedented three-way cooperation with the United States on military and other measures.
In bilateral talks a day earlier, Li and Kishida discussed Taiwan and agreed to hold a new round of bilateral high-level economic dialogue.
Yoon and the Chinese premier agreed to a diplomatic and security dialogue, and to resume free trade talks.
Yoon also asked China to play a constructive role with its partners in North Korea, which is expanding its nuclear weapons and missile arsenal in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Officials and diplomats from South Korea and Japan have set a low bar for the summit.
They say it's uncertain whether there will be major announcements, but that the gathering will help the three countries reinvigorate their strained relations.
