China, Japan, South Korea to step up cultural ties despite rows

The culture ministers of South Korea, Japan and China agreed on Friday to step up cultural, sports and people-to-people exchanges despite recent tensions over trade and their shared history.

Their meeting in the South Korean port of Incheon comes amid an escalating trade and diplomatic spat between Japan and South Korea, and an intensifying regional rivalry with a rising China.

The three countries promote cultural exchanges but differing views on their shared history, such as the legacy of the Japan’s occupation of Korea and parts of China, have often hampered those efforts.

The ministers - Park Yang-woo of South Korea, Masahiko Shibayama of Japan and Luo Shugang of China - promised more cultural, sport and people-to-people exchanges over the next 10 years. During that time Japan will host the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics will held in Beijing.

“The three countries made it clear that future cultural exchanges and cooperation should be conducted based on the principles of mutual respect and reciprocity and in a way that promotes cultural diversity and peace in East Asia,” the ministers said in a joint statement.

Park and Shibayama shared a cordial handshake alongside Luo as they signed agreements aimed at expanding trilateral cultural programs, in contrast to the frosty exchanges between the two countries’ foreign ministers recently.

The two culture ministers held separate talks on Thursday where they agreed to continue cultural cooperation despite the political and economic feud, South Korea’s culture ministry said in a statement.