South Korea hosts Japan and China as US allies try to reassure Beijing.

Tuesday’s trilateral conference with top diplomats from China, Japan, and South Korea was viewed as an effort to ease Beijing’s concerns over the two U.S. allies’ escalating collaboration with Washington.

The gathering intends to prepare the ground for the restart of the three-way summits between the presidents of the nations, which were last held in 2019. These discussions were put on hold because of disagreements between Seoul and Tokyo about legal, diplomatic, and commerce matters related to Japan’s 1910–1945 occupation of Korea.

Since then, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and American President Joe Biden have tried to repair their relations. At a historic trilateral summit in August, the three leaders pledged to increase cooperation, particularly in defense and economic security.

According to a senior South Korean government official, China has taken the initiative to promote trilateral cooperation and set up talks since Seoul and Beijing’s ties deteriorated in 2017 over the installation of a U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea.

Because of the matter’s sensitivity, the source spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I’m sure there should be some discomfort on their side regarding our increasingly close trilateral security partnerships with the United States and Japan,” the official said. “There seems to be a view that they need to manage bilateral relations with us properly because they saw how their THAAD responses backfired and fueled anti-China sentiment to serious levels,” says the author.

Tong Zhao, senior fellow at the American Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, predicted that Beijing would use trilateral trade ties to counterbalance the U.S. friend-shoring strategy, advance intercultural exchanges, and improve communication and dialogue with Seoul and Tokyo on security and defense issues.

He said that Japan and South Korea are interested in preventing crises, upholding a secure security relationship with China, and enlisting Beijing’s help in reducing if not completely stopping, North Korea’s vast nuclear development program.

According to Zhao, “These common interests open up new channels for strategic communication, confidence-building, and crisis-prevention measures.”

The Chinese premier has often attended the trilateral meetings, but South Korea also advocates for a separate visit by President Xi Jinping.

According to Japanese broadcaster TBS, South Korea, which is hosting three-way talks this year, suggested holding a trilateral summit in December at the discussions on Tuesday.

The most recent meeting was attended by Nong Rong, China’s assistant foreign minister, Chung Byung-won, South Korea’s deputy foreign minister, and Takehiro Funakoshi, Japan’s senior deputy foreign minister.

The spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, stated during a briefing on Monday that developing trilateral cooperation serves the interests of China, Japan, and South Korea, who are all near neighbors and significant cooperating partners.