Growing Activism as Cooperation Facilitator

Abstract

South Korea’s increasing status in regional and global affairs has started to draw substantial attention. This study focuses on the China-Japan-Korea triangle and argues that Korea’s exercise of middle power diplomacy is vital to robust trilateralism. Since the late 1990s, Korea has proactively mobilized its diplomatic resources to enhance the institutionalization of China-Japan-Korea trilateralism. Its diplomatic activism fits into the existing theoretical assumptions that middle powers are likely to act as cooperation facilitators and bridge builders. To be specific, Korea’s middle-power diplomacy within the triangle works in two ways: making intellectual contributions and bridging between China and Japan. First, Korea has acted as the main idea proposer, agendasetter and vision designer throughout the evolution of trilateralism, including the first trilateral breakfast summit in 1999, the first independent Trilateral Summit in 2008, and the establishment of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) in 2011. Second, Korea’s presence in the triangle has provided bridging between China and Japan. Korea’s chairmanship and diplomatic efforts toward resuming the Sixth Trilateral Summit in November 2015 have created a new diplomatic pattern in Northeast Asia whereby cooperative trilateralism incorporates bilateral disputes into a minilateral setting. However, Korea is, after all, a middle power in this triangle with no intention to challenge China or Japan. For this reason, Korea has exerted its middle-power bridging cautiously through a “wait-and-see” approach.