The Prime Ministers of China, Japan and South Korea met in Seoul on 27 May to resume regular annual meetings which began in 2008 and were held annually until 2019, when they were interrupted by COVID and “aspects of the international situation”.

The PMs issued a joint statement after their meeting which was strong on practical cooperation and careful with touchy political subjects like North Korean nuclear, Taiwan and the South China Sea. This caution was reflected in remarks by the Chinese Premier outside the meeting, when he said that “China, Japan and South Korea should appropriately handle sensitive issues and points of difference, and take care of each other’s core interests and major concerns.”

Although in other comments outside the meeting the leaders maintained their emphasis on unexceptionable areas of future cooperation, it seems likely that two of the shared factors behind the series’ resumption were concern about the consequences of a possible second Trump Presidency; and concern about the general unimpressiveness of the........

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