Julie Bishop , the Foreign Minister of Australia, will visit South Korea and Japan next week to promote the Free Trade Agreements and its timely conclusion between the two countries.
The Foreign Ministry claimed that the visit will begin from October 14 up to October 20, 2013. The Australian FM is also planning to come to Hong Kong where a large group of Australians living overseas can be found. This statement was officially released on the foreign ministry website.
Purpose Of The Week Visit In Different Countries
For this week’s visit, Australian FM Julie Bishop will be meeting alumni, academics, students and the business leaders at the same time. It is also a part of this goal to explore the ways on how the Australians can take advantage of the internship and study opportunities that will be offered to them through the government program called New Colombo Plan. This New Colombo Plan is a 100 million AU dollar program run by the government. The purpose of this program is to encourage Asians to visit and study in Australia or that Australians should take the opportunity to study in Asia, too.
The Joint Statement
Australian FM Julie Bishop will meet the Diet members and Fumio Kishida in Japan. Just last Friday, John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, Kishida and Bishop provided a joint statement in Indonesia. According to the joint statement signed in Bali, they are opposing for the unilateral or coercive actions which may call for maritime disputes and would change the present East China Sea’s status quo. It was also mentioned in the joint statement that the claimants should stop from their destabilizing actions to avoid disputes in South China Sea.
Response Of China Regarding The Alliance Of Three Countries
On Monday, China responded with the statement claiming that the three countries should not intervene the disputes in the South China Sea and the East China sea by making their alliance as an excuse. China also urged these three countries to refrain causing more regional tensions. According to the response from the country of China, they are urging the involved countries to distinguish the right from the wrong, respect the facts, be cautious and should stop the deeds which will not be helpful for handling the issue properly. Hua Chunying, the spokeswoman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry also added that they hope the relevant countries will not undermine the stability of the region.
Australian FM Julie Bishop will also meet the cabinet members, Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick and FM Yun Byung-se in South Korea.
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