After being suspended for over three years, the China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit restarted recently.

On November 1, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye attended the sixth China-Japan-South Korea leaders' meeting at a triangular table in the Blue House in Seoul. Following the talks, leaders from the three sides issued a Joint Declaration for Peace and Cooperation in Northeast Asia (Declaration). The meeting indicates that trilateral cooperation has been comprehensively restored.

In July 2012, then Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda declared the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands, which dramatically jeopardized the Sino-Japanese relationship. In the meantime, disputes between Tokyo and Seoul over Dokdo, or Takeshima in Japanese, have also led to a severe regression in Japan-South Korean ties.

When Abe was elected as prime minister for the second time, he could have used the opportunity to fix Japan's relations with both China and South Korea.

Yet unfortunately, his and some of his cabinet members' fallacious views on territorial, historical, military and "comfort women" issues have let this chance go to waste. The trilateral meeting was therefore suspended, which hindered cooperation among the three sides.

Since 2012, a series of moves by the Abe government have proved unpopular, including passing the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets, lifting the ban on collective self-defense, relaxing its arms export restrictions and forcing through new security bills. The Abe Cabinet's support rating is gradually dipping. Now that Japan's general election in 2016 is approaching, Abe needs to shift citizens' attention urgently through developing its diplomacy as well as the economy, in order to regain his approval rating.

From this latest meeting, Abe's goal of raising his domestic support is achieved via improving ties with China and South Korea.

Abe's first formal meeting with Li means that Abe has already directly talked to two Chinese top leaders, Li and President Xi Jinping. It is without doubt a breakthrough for the Abe administration.

According to the Declaration, Japan will chair the three-party talks in 2016. Although it is not yet decided whether Xi will visit Japan, it's very likely that at least Li will attend the trilateral meeting next year. Realizing the Chinese leaders' visit to Japan will help boost Abe's support rate at home. Some Japanese media also predict that Li's Japan tour next year may help promote Xi's visit.

Compared with the meeting between Li and Abe, Japanese media seem to have paid more attention to Abe's talks with Park, given that the improvement of the Tokyo-Seoul relationship is trickier.

Both Abe and Park were elected in December 2012, yet due to the "comfort women" issue, the two have never held a formal summit. Hence, the official Abe-Park meeting holds special significance, against the backdrop of the 50th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-South Korea relations. Despite the fact that divergences between the two still exist, at least the two sides have taken a crucial step toward each other.

Beijing-Tokyo-Seoul ties have indeed experienced some progress through the trilateral summit. However, it does not mean that Japan won't stir up more issues in the future. The disputes over the Diaoyu Islands, historical and "comfort women" issues were not yet settled. Thus, Tokyo's future ties with China and South Korea depend on Japan's attitude to these issues.

When Abe met with Park on November 2, he expressed his wish to enhance cooperation with South Korea over the South China Sea issue. "Japan would like to cooperate with South Korea and the US at various occasions to preserve the open, free and peaceful sea," said a Japanese government spokesman, Reuters reported. It is hence not hard to see Tokyo's desire to play up regional tensions, and its attempts to undermine China's interests in the South China Sea.

It is hoped that Abe will cherish the trilateral leaders' meeting, which did not come easily.

The author is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Sociology at Toyo University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn