Bulletin N°56 avril 2025 China, Japan, and South Korea scheduled a meeting of their foreign ministers in the Japanese capital in mid-February, which took place on March 22. At the same time, Japanese and Chinese ministerial delegations met to discuss financial and economic issues; the last bilateral exchanges of this nature date back to 2019.
The ninth tripartite summit was held in May 2024. Political changes in the United States undoubtedly explain the urgency of this new meeting, having opened the prospect of a new summit this year at a higher level.
"Domestic" matters were on the agenda: the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, Russian-North Korean military cooperation, and the Chinese embargo on Japanese seafood (due to the releases into the sea from the Fukushima plant).
However, the Japanese Foreign Minister emphasized the central issues at stake in this meeting: "I believe that we are surely at a turning point in history, it has become more important than ever to make efforts to overcome our divisions and differences through dialogue and cooperation."
His Chinese counterpart, referring to the 80th anniversary of the Second World War, stated: "Only by honestly confronting history can we build the future." After this brief reminder of the persistent Japanese revisionist attitude regarding the atrocities committed by the Japanese armies before and during the Second World War, he added: "Strengthening cooperation in East Asia would enable the three countries to jointly address risks and promote mutual understanding among their peoples."
Finally, more modestly, the representative of South Korea expressed the hope that tripartite cooperation would "send a message to the world of hope for the future."
The Chinese minister outlined a response to American threats regarding international trade, from which, paradoxically, Koreans and Japanese have as much to fear as China, at least initially. He pointed to the combined power of the three countries: a GDP of $24,000 billion 1 , for a population of 1.6 billion people. And he proposed the resumption of discussions on free trade with its neighboring countries and to welcome new members into the association of 15 countries within the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership 2
In short, the Chinese authorities are opening up the prospect of an Asia-Pacific bloc to address the disruptions in the global market linked to the decisions of the Trump administration. A bloc in which, clearly, China will be ultra-dominant. Faced with the closing of the US market, and the European Union's market doing the same, particularly under the guise of environmental principles, Chinese capitalism is thus attempting to reorganize the space for its international development, as the national domestic market does not yet offer sufficient profit prospects.
Thus, the trade war unleashed by the Trump administration is leading to a war of position by Chinese imperialism aimed at reducing US influence in the region. In this regard, the fate of American troops on their soil will give Japan and South Korea an indication of the Trump administration's real desire to withdraw and the real urgency of reorienting their alliances.
1 Around $20,000 billion for the European Union and $30,000 billion for the United States – American data to be taken with caution (overvaluation of financial sector products)
2 In English Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) draft free trade agreement of which the ASEAN countries ( Burma , Brunei , Cambodia , Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia , the Philippines , Singapore , Thailand , Vietnam ) and 5 other countries which already have a bilateral free trade agreement with ASEAN are members: Australia , China , Japan , South Korea and New Zealand .