Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-china-south-korea-meet-geopolitical-turning-point-history-2025-03-22/
On March 22, foreign ministers from Japan, China, and South Korea all met up in Tokyo to talk about security and economic issues amid global uncertainty. Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya started off the meeting by saying we very well might be at a turning point in history and agreed to accelerate preparations for their trilateral summit in Japan later this year. Wang Yi of China brought up the combined economic output of the countries and added that with their combined markets and population, they could exert a lot of power and influence. However, China remains at odds with Japan and South Korea. Cho Tae-yul of South Korea asked Yi to start persuading North Korea to abandon their nuclear weapons. He also stressed that illegal military cooperation between North Korea and Russia should cease at once. Finally, Iwaya asked Yi to raise the Japanese seafood import ban imposed in 2023 and asked for China to start buying their beef and rice as well.
“Turning point in history” sounds a bit extreme. It might be more of a lane change, at least for the next 4 years. Trump has an unconventional way of going about foreign affairs that makes every leader highly uncomfortable, but when he’s out of office, we’ll have a new president who does things differently, for better or for worse, and everybody’s going to say that that election is a “turning point in history”. I find China bringing up a coalition between the 3 countries very out of the blue considering South Korea and Japan currently hate China’s guts and they hate them back. If they can achieve that in the near future, I’d be shocked. I doubt it will happen though.
This relates to class because China and South Korea were discussing the illegal military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, which is an example of unconventional warfare. This type of war is very common nowadays and includes any war that doesn’t have rules. The three foreign ministers are conducting foreign relations, which is interacting with other countries in an effort to achieve something of national interest. In this case, South Korea is trying to use China as a middleman to stop North Korea from being a threat to their national security. Japan is asking China to buy more of its goods and increase its GDP.