Northeast Asian relations improving

JAPAN, China and South Korea have made moves to improve regional relations recently (albeit to differing degrees) through a mixture of public statements and promises to engage each other in upcoming international forums. Japan is the crux of this, as China and South Korea still have territorial and imperial issues with Tokyo to resolve before substantial reconciliation can get underway.

For now, however, the three countries appear willing to put aside their nationalist spats to address trade and investment concerns, which have grown increasingly worrisome since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012.