Resident Scholar  Michael Auslin

Research Fellow  Christopher Griffin

America's approach to East Asia is in need of a serious overhaul, and fortunately events in the region are providing the best opportunity in years to do just that. The easing of political tension between Japan and South Korea, America's most important allies in the region, could pave the way for a new trilateral security partnership. More fundamentally, such a partnership could form the basis of a multilateral approach to Asia that the United States has historically lacked.

For over six decades, the U.S. supported East Asia's stability through a "hub-and-spoke" system of bilateral alliances with such countries as Japan, Australia, the Philippines and Korea. Unlike in Europe, a multilateral approach in Asia wasn't possible because so many U.S. allies were so suspicious of each other, and especially of Japan. But such challenges as nuclear proliferation, instability on the Korean Peninsula, and the risk of natural disasters increasingly overwhelm the hub-and-spoke system. For example, the failure of the U.S., Japan and South Korea to collaborate on such projects as the Proliferation Security Initiative to block the flow of arms and know-how to or from North Korea has harmed our ability to detect and interdict weapons of mass destruction.

Fortunately the old suspicions are starting to modulate. South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak, has reached out to Tokyo by stating that "Korea and Japan must not be tied down by the past" while Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has called for a "new era" in relations between the two economic powerhouses. The two leaders pledged this week to meet more often. Steadily growing bilateral trade, grass-roots exchanges, and joint participation in regional forums have laid the groundwork for such rapprochement.

Even in Washington, where the Bush administration remains focused on propping up the six-party talks, military officials and diplomats are quietly discussing enhanced trilateral cooperation with their Japanese and Korean counterparts.

The most natural instinct in all three capitals will be to focus on policy coordination toward North Korea, where there's already a precedent. The Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group served that purpose between 1998 and 2004, but was dismantled as its purpose was subsumed by the six-party talks. Further coordination on North Korea would be helpful, but Washington's purpose should be more ambitious: to coordinate the evolution of its two vital alliances in Northeast Asia.

There's no time to lose. The security challenges facing Japan and South Korea are increasingly convergent. In particular, North Korea's nuclear weapons program and China's militarization threaten both countries. So do environmental degradation, piracy and the specter of regional pandemics such as avian influenza.

The crux of this effort could be a "Trilateral Security Committee" conducted at the ministerial level to provide high-level guidance to the trilateral relationship. Given an imprimatur by their respective leaderships, the working levels of the three defense establishments could craft a common strategic agenda that would include security, economic and political relations. Areas of vital cooperation include humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, intelligence sharing, joint training, missile defense and defense of sea lanes. Such discussions would reduce uncertainty while each bilateral alliance undergoes a realignment of U.S. forces, an effort that has involved base relocation and environmental cleanup, as well as the transfer of U.S. forces to Guam.

Critics of this approach will argue that relations between Japan and Korea are still too fragile to allow such sustained engagement. But that is precisely why Washington must work with Tokyo and Seoul to overcome decades of mistrust and create a new vision for cooperation. Others will worry that such a trilateral relationship will generate criticism from China, which may see it as a form of "containment." Stabilizing relations among these three nations, however, will present China with a less uncertain East Asia, and one in which neither South Korea nor Japan would be more likely to take "rogue" anti-Chinese actions.

New challenges require new thinking, and a new trilateralism in East Asia, more than any other path, will reduce misunderstanding among friends and rivals alike. Now is a rare moment to help build a more stable and prosperous Asia. It's in America's best interests, not to mention the region's, that Washington seize the opportunity.

Michael Auslin is a resident scholar at AEI. Christopher Griffin is a research fellow at AEI.