SHIN Bong-kil
Trilateral Relation needs to be reorganized and start a brand-new journey
2023.02.08
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SHIN Bong-gil: Trilateral Relation needs to be reorganized and start a brand-new journey
By SHIN Bong-gil, the first Secretary-General of the TCS, President of the Korean Council on Foreign Relations, and TCS Guest Scholar
In early January, the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) announced the result of “CJK Spirit: Word of the Year 2023” in Seoul, Republic of Korea (ROK).
After the popular votes of the three nations, the word “harmony” was elected. The word “harmony” (和合) expresses the people’s aspirations for common prosperity in East Asia and embodies their common wish for a peaceful regional development and harmonious coexistence.
Just a few years ago, it was common to hear people speaking Chinese, Japanese and Korean in Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo. However, with the intensified contradictions caused by the global spread of the COVID-19 epidemic and historical issues, exchange and cooperation among the three countries have been severely hampered. The Sino-US trade friction in international politics also negatively affects CJK trilateral relation. Therefore, finding a way to coexist amid contradictions and conflicts has become an important agenda in this trilateral relation. The Trilateral Summit has been suspended for three consecutive years since it was last held in Chengdu, China, in December 2019, which reminds me of the saying “out of sight, out of mind”.
The establishment and development of the TCS
Twelve years ago in September 2011, China, Japan and the ROK established the TCS, a permanent international organization, in Seoul. Like the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, and the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, the TCS is an inter-governmental organization established to promote lasting peace and common prosperity among China, Japan, and the ROK. However, the level of institutionalization, scale, and presence of the TCS is hardly commensurate with the international status and roles of the three countries today.
The TCS consists of one Secretary-General, two Deputy Secretary-Generals, four directors and more than 30 staff members. All members are from China, Japan and the ROK, and many of them are fluent in multiple languages—they can speak at least one of the foreign languages (Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) in addition to English and their mother tongue. The TCS is a small “China-Japan-Korea Community” where personnels from the three countries come together and work together. The Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-Generals serve a term of two years and are appointed by each government. Ambassador OU Boqian, the current Secretary-General, is an outstanding, enthusiastic, and experienced Chinese female diplomat who is proficient in English. MAO Ning, the Chinese Deputy Secretary-General during my time as the first Secretary-General (2011-2013) of the TCS, now serves as the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. MATSUKAWA Rui, Japanese Deputy Secretary-General back then, has become a politician after returning to Japan (re-elected as a member of the House of Councilors of Japan and served as Parliamentary Secretary of Defense).
Located on the 20th floor of the S-TOWER building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, the TCS office looks like an international consulting firm or law firm. If you take the elevator and get off on the 20th floor, you will immediately face the large national flags of the three countries. The then Asian director of the British weekly magazine, The Economist, once described the feeling of visiting the TCS office saying that the appearance of the flags of the three countries hanging side by side seemed “unnatural”.
The three countries, which seem somewhat “uncoordinated” at a first glance, have held regular summit meetings since 1999. In November 1999, a separate breakfast meeting held by then-Chinese Premier ZHU Rongji, the ROK President KIM Dae-jung, and Japanese Prime Minister OBUCHI Keizo during the ASEAN+3 Summit held in Manila, the Philippines, marked the beginning of the trilateral cooperation. Unlike the current tense global situation such as competition between China and the US as well as the fierce confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, regional cooperation and regional integration were the major global trends at that time. Since 2008, this separate breakfast meeting has evolved into an annual Trilateral Summit, which has been hosted alternately in the three countries every year. Since then, the meeting between these three countries has expanded, and currently, in addition to the Trilateral Summit, 21 ministerial-level mechanisms and many consultative bodies at the vice-ministerial and director-general levels are operating in the field of diplomacy, trade, environment, culture, and disaster management.
With the development of trilateral relations, the TCS was then formally established in Seoul, the ROK, in September 2011. The establishment of the TCS was proposed by LEE Myung-bak, the Korean President at that time. Chinese Premier WEN Jiabao strongly supported, and former Japanese Prime Minister HATOYAMA Yukio who was very eager about the construction of the East Asian Community was also very supportive of the establishment of the TCS. The three countries all intended to host the TCS, but Seoul, geographically located in the middle, was finally chosen. The TCS has three main goals: to provide support for the operation and management of the trilateral governmental mechanism, to explore and implement cooperation projects in various fields such as politics, economy, society and culture, with the aim to promote lasting peace, common prosperity and shared culture among the three countries. Centering on the platform of the trilateral cooperation, various forms of multilateral collaboration can be made, among which a case shall be the Northeast Asia Cooperation for Health Security (NEACHS) with the participation of six countries including China, the ROK, Japan, Russia, Mongolia, and the US when the COVID-19 epidemic was raging. Although remaining in the development stage, the TCS might develop into a highly institutionalized inter-governmental organization covering the entire East Asian region someday.
The Necessity of the resumption of the Trilateral Summit
As mentioned above, since the eighth Trilateral Summit was held in Chengdu in December 2019, due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, historical issues, and increasingly intense competition between China and the US, the Trilateral Summit has been suspended for three consecutive years. The ROK is the current chair of trilateral cooperation. After taking office in May 2022, the YOON Suk Yeol Administration sincerely hopes to resume the Trilateral Summit.
Why is it necessary to resume the Trilateral Summit at an early date? Firstly, it will be the occasion for defusing tensions in Northeast Asia, injecting vitality into regional development, improving relevant bilateral relations and easing conflicts. Secondly, it will be an important opportunity for discussing “those pending issues” related to security, economy, and trade among the three countries. Conventionally, this meeting has discussed “current progress and future direction of trilateral cooperation” and “regional and international issues” as agendas. Recent issues such as visas and entry procedures may also be discussed. In terms of international trade order, environment, climate change, and historical issues, there also remain many pressing issues that need to be resolved by the three countries. Thirdly, it can also provide a good chance to discuss the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, which also was one of the important topics of the previous Trilateral Summit. Fourthly, trilateral cooperation can play a role in easing the competition between China and the US. With the three-way cooperation between the US, Japan and the ROK taking form, it is expected that the Trilateral Summit will also be taken as a turning point to mitigate the competitive relationship between China and the US.
From a global perspective, Northeast Asia is one of the most significant regions in the world. Trilateral Cooperation is the most important multilateral cooperation mechanism in the region in that it deals with all key agendas such as security, economy, and culture. Therefore, it is crucial for the leaders of the three countries to hold regular meetings and that the Trilateral Summit, like the ASEAN Summit, be held regularly at a specific time each year regardless of conflicts among the member countries. I hope that the next Trilateral Summit to be held in the ROK will not only expand the scale of the TCS and have in-depth discussions on institutionalization, but also serve as a turning point in the development of trilateral relations.
The Necessity of more inclusive attitude and posture
WANG Zhihuan, a Chinese poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in his famous poem “On the Stork Tower”: “you’ll enjoy a grander sight only by climbing up to a greater height.” NATSUME Soseki, a famous Japanese novelist in modern times, once also said: “to develop your personality, you must first respect the personality of others.” For the present and future of China, Japan, and the ROK, we must “climb up to a greater height” to study the minds of the people of the other member countries and broaden the scope of mutual understanding, even if there will be difficulties in the process. The three countries need to boost their spirits more than ever and adopt a mutually inclusive attitude and posture with a harmonious spirit.
