Pacific Trilateralism

The United States has few stronger interests in the Asia-Pacific than turning its robust alliances with Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) into a trilateral relationship marked by cooperation, good will, and mutual understanding.

Project Objectives

This project identified ongoing and future security challenges affecting the United States, Japan, and the ROK, proposed recommendations for strengthening their trilateral relationship in the coming decades, and promoted increased discussion of the trilateral relationship within U.S., Japanese, and ROK policymaking communities.

Project Activities

This ambitious three-year initiative had three phases:

• Phase I featured a series of briefs by U.S., Korean, and Japanese experts on important ongoing and future security challenges affecting the trilateral relationship. The experts Daniel Sneider (Stanford University), Yul Sohn (Yonsei University), and Yoshihide Soeya (Keio University), participated in a congressional roundtable event and published recommendations in an NBR Special Report.
• Phase II was driven by the formation of a Pacific Trilateral Commission that met with policymakers and key stakeholders in all three countries to derive a holistic view of current dynamics in the relationship.
• Phase III incorporated the initial findings from the previous phases into a major policy monograph authored by a principal investigator.

Throughout all three phases and upon completion of the final monograph, NBR has engaged with government officials and policymakers to ensure that the project addresses the issues that are important for our audience, and disseminates policy-relevant conclusions and recommendations.