By Xiang Haoyu

The US recently held a "two plus two" meeting respectively with Japan and ROK, holding a big political show to put pressure on China, but the bilateral and trilateral relations among them are more talk than substance. Washington is trying to intensify its alliance with Tokyo and Seoul, and their interactions send three messages.

First, the US-Japan-ROK alliance is recovering as the US returns to East Asia on a high profile. The inking of defense expense agreements with the US at basically the previous sharing proportion has reassured Japan and ROK and given them more confidence in their mighty ally.

Second, Japan and ROK respond differently to America's anti-China approach. Japan and ROK have reacted differently to America's undisguised clique-forming moves. While the Moon Jae-in administration is chiefly concerned about the Korean peninsula and inclined to keep a balance between Beijing and Washington by adopting an ambiguous stance, the Yoshihide Suga government, deeply troubled by the epidemic and political scandals, hopes to deflect domestic problems by hyping up the "China threat", as many observed.

Third, the US-Japan-ROK alliance is not iron-clad due to inherent conflicts. Washington didn't say anything about what it would do regarding the Japan-ROK conflicts during the recent trip. Still, it only released their discussions about trilateral cooperation to the public, indicating its inability to resolve the feud between the two countries. Besides, no progress was made on the reorganization of American troops stationed in Japan and the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) -- respectively, the chief concern of Tokyo and Seoul, so conflicts and divergences will keep popping up in the future.

Washington obviously wants to turn Northeast Asia into a forward position in its competition with and containment of China, but how can it forget the region is home to China, Japan and ROK alike. Tokyo and Seoul should think deeply about the role the US-Japan-ROK alliance will play in the region.

From the perspective of current circumstances and Northeast Asia’s long-term development, Japan and ROK should consider the following points when helping the US forge a military alliance.

They should abandon the Cold-War mentality and pursue common security. As an outcome of the Cold War, the US-Japan-ROK alliance has been upholding "bloc security", an idea that will certainly unsettle the countries outside the bloc and aggravate regional arms race.

China, on the other hand, advocates the new outlook of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security that goes beyond ideological division and struggle over regional leadership, and replaces bloc security with common security. As far as peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia are concerned, Japan and ROK should set an example for maintaining the common security of regional countries.

They should deal with sensitive issues cautiously and not hype up external threats. The purpose of an exclusive military alliance is to cope with common enemies from the outside, so the US has to constantly exaggerate the threats from China and DPRK to justify its attempt to form such an alliance with Japan and ROK. Those two countries, being located in Northeast Asia, should be prudent and cautious when it comes to highly sensitive and complicated issues.

The US should have realized that its interest and strategic considerations don't necessarily coincide with those of Japan and ROK as those two, although highly dependent on the US in security, also have profound economic connections with China and therefore don’t wish to see a full-blown confrontation. As ROK's Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong said, Seoul will not pick sides between Beijing and Washington.

They should display sincerity for dialogue and take tangible steps to push for the non-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula. The crux of nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula lies in the conflict between Washington and Pyongyang, and the only way to solve it is to accommodate all parties' security concerns through political dialogue and peaceful means. Dumping sanctions and pressure on DPRK won't help, and strengthening military deployments and exercises against DPRK will only throw the regional situation back to the abyss of tension.

The US, Japan and ROK are reinforcing the trilateral relations, especially in the bundling of military interests. China, while resolutely safeguarding its own sovereignty and security interests, should insist on peace, reconciliation, and cooperation in Northeast Asia. It should make continued efforts to manage territorial and maritime disputes through dialogue and consultation, deepen economic and trade cooperation in the region, promote defense and security dialogue, and enhance political and security mutual trust among regional countries.

The US, Japan and ROK should give up any illusion of containing China and instead work with it to jointly establish a long-term peace mechanism – that's the only way to ensure lasting peace and security in Northeast Asia.

(The author is a researcher with the Department for Asia-Pacific Studies at the China Institute of International Studies.)

Editor's note: This article is originally published on huanqiu.com, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.