EDITORIAL : THE GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA

Tokyo mishandles its bridge-building

Mere days away from this year's trilateral summit between China, Japan and South Korea starts, Tokyo suffered a diplomatic setback over the venue of the summit.

Prior to thorough consultation with China and South Korea, Japanese officials told media that Prime Minister Naoto Kan strongly urged that the summit be held in Fukushima to demonstrate its safety. Soon, news started swirling around Japanese media suggesting that either China or South Korea was against the proposal. The trick is clear: pressuring China and South Korea into agreeing.

It is rare that a host country remains vague about a summit location so shortly before its opening. The Kan administration is understandably under pressure to show off its disaster relief progress and mitigate suspicion over the safety situation of Fukushima. Japanese agricultural exports were rejected by many countries due to possible radioactive contamination.

However, whether Fukushima is a truly viable location for the summit should be decided by an authoritative source provided with persuasive data. Trust indeed is an issue among these three East Asian countries, but it does not appear to be a smart move to test foreign relationships by gauging countries' attitudes as to the summit location.

The trilateral summit, the highest level summit in East Asia, provides a good chance for China, Japan and South Korea to discuss strengthening strategic cooperation, enhancing regional competitiveness, and helping Japan pull through "its worst crisis since World War II."

In addition, rebuilding requires long and meticulous effort. Japanese officials should perhaps focus more attention on the real work, not on irrelevant and minor details.

The natural disasters brought Japan and China closer, the latter offering sympathy and support for Japan's rebuilding. China and South Korea are especially concerned about the progress of the Fukushima nuclear crisis. That the three countries are able to discuss more concrete cooperation is more important than where the summit is held.

Both Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will visit Fukushima during the trilateral summit, bringing much-needed media attention to the disaster-hit area. The scenario of confusion surrounding the venue however should never have even occurred.