China postpones 3-way meeting of culture ministers with Korea, Japan
This combination of pictures created on Oct. 31 shows China's President Xi Jinping, left, during a meeting at Gimhae Air Base in Busan, Oct. 30, and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaking in front of US Navy personnel on board the U.S. Navy's USS George Washington aircraft carrier at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Oct 28. AFP-Yonhap
China has notified Korea that it postponed a planned trilateral meeting of culture ministers from Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo that was slated for next week, according to Seoul's culture ministry on Thursday.
China has not specified why it postponed the planned meeting, but Tokyo and Beijing have been embroiled in a diplomatic row after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier this month suggested that Japan could intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan.
On Tuesday, China's culture ministry notified Korea's culture ministry that Beijing "temporarily postpones" the trilateral meeting, which had been scheduled to be held next Monday in Macao.
Since the inaugural session of the ministerial conference held in China in 2007, the trilateral talks have brought together the cultural ministers of the three nations every year to discuss cultural exchange and cooperation.