After more than a 3-year hiatus, Seoul hosted the China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit on May 26-27, which became a remarkable event in the overall transformation process taking place in East Asia. This event organically fit into a series of previous and subsequent, equally significant, developments occurring in this region.

A number of events previously covered by NEO, which were held in Seoul on May 26-27 within the framework of the renewed China-Japan-South Korea negotiation platform, became a noticeable element of the political puzzle that is taking shape in the Indo-Pacific region, where the focus of the current stage of the “Great Global Game” is shifting. If all three participants in this negotiation platform move from words (“we are for all good and against all bad”) to action, it could play an important role in the (hypothetical) process of improving the overall political climate both in the East Asia subregion and in the Indo-Pacific region as a whole.

However, the very nature of the events held in Seoul, as well as a number of subsequent events, have not yet made a significant contribution to the formation of optimistic expectations. But before we go further and talk about some of these events, let’s turn our attention to the Russian President’s very significant trip to China ten days before the Seoul events.

Vladimir Putin’s state visit to China

Vladimir Putin’s state visit to China, during which he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, has already become the topic of widespread public discussion. This is why the author thinks it would be appropriate to express his general assessment of the visit’s outcome.

The assessment merely confirms the building of back-to-back political and strategic cooperation, which seems to be the most optimal for both sides in the present conditions. This position will make both sides feel safe about “their backs,” giving them freedom to act in the specific context of the escalating situation in the eastern direction for China and in the western direction for Russia. Providing mutual assistance in the volumes and areas that each side considers acceptable in terms of national interests.

As for China, the above-mentioned “specifics”, as discussed in NEO, were once again outlined during those Seoul events.

In the case of Russia, the prospect of turning the conflict in Ukraine into a “Ukrainian........

© New Eastern Outlook