Trilateral Dialogue on“Regional Architecture in East Asia andMiddle Power Diplomacy”

November 26, 2011
Millennium Seoul Hilton, Seoul

Summary and Policy Recommendations
Trilateral Dialogue on“Regional Architecture in East Asia and Middle Power Diplomacy”
In recent years there has been much interest in so-called middle power
diplomacy among emerging countries in East Asia. These countries are beginning tomatch their international role with their economic power, yet in the region theyremained constrained by larger powers such as the United States and China. Seeking
a role, middle power diplomacy has been keenly embraced as a way to define theirposition in the region and the world. In spite of this interest, the concept of a middle
power and middle power diplomacy has not been clearly determined. For example,
Japan may exhibit the characteristics of middle power diplomacy yet would not berecognized as a middle power by some of its neighbors due its large economic power.
Furthermore, the roles that middle powers play is increasingly complex, not justmediating between the major powers in the region, but also globally between developing
and advanced economies. In general, the issues that these middle powers haveembraced range from humanitarian aid to regional security threats. The challengethough remains that these middle powers have yet to establish strong cooperation
among them on these issues, particularly on the global stage.
The following is a summary of the main points and policy recommendations
from the discussions in each of the sessions.
Session 1: How to Design Middle Power Architecture in East Asia
Moderator: Fu-Kuo Liu
Presenters: Chaesung Chun, Yoshihide Soeya, Ming Lee1) South Korea’s Perspective
The promotion of norms in the region is an important task for middle powers
like South Korea. As great powers tend to be competitive, middle powers in East Asia
can play an important role in framing the regional architecture. South Korea, as astrong proponent of middle power diplomacy, can strengthen coordination among othermiddle powers by promoting a consensus among them based on international norms.
Such international norms can be enhanced in the region by emphasizing
value-orientated activities, such as education, the arts, and religion. These areas tend toinduce greater cooperation that the more difficult areas related to security issues. South2

Korea should facilitate middle power cooperation with ASEAN countries. Whenconsidering regional middle power cooperation in East Asia, little thought is given tocountries of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) despite many commoninterests. Both Northeast Asian countries and ASEAN are concerned about how toeffectively engage the major powers like China and the United States. The fear for
middle powers in the region is that they may be pushed aside by great power diplomacy
as in the past. However, by linking together with ASEAN countries, the middle
powers of Northeast Asia can strengthen the influence of middle power diplomacy.
2) Japan’s Perspective
Middle power diplomacy still needs to be carefully defined. Despite thediscussions on middle power diplomacy, there is still a lack of a clear definition on what
its characteristics are. While the definition of a middle power will always be difficult, it
might be more prudent to focus on middle power as a style of diplomacy. That is middle
power diplomacy follows certain characteristics that countries pursue for whateverreason, rather than the actions of countries defined as middle powers. Middle power
diplomacy can help Japan to be more active in the region. Japan faces both domestic
and international constraints in playing a more active role in the region. In particular,
it is difficult for Japan to advance any new initiatives in the region as this usuallybrings about opposition from China. In pursuing middle power diplomacy, Tokyo could
overcome these limitations and play a more active role.
3) Taiwan’s Perspective
Despite its limitations, Taiwan should pursue middle power diplomacy.
Taiwan views itself as marginalized in the framing of regional architecture despite its
strong economic role. Middle power diplomacy would naturally be attractive for Taiwan
and is worth pursuing as a way to enhance its international role that it is now trying tobuild. Although China opposes any international role for Taiwan, over the years it has
not blocked efforts to internationalize Taiwan’s economy. By utilizing economic ties ascommon ground with other countries, Taiwan can help to elevate its international role.
Taiwan’s engagement with China can help other countries. Over the last few years,
Taiwan has been engaging China which has produced positive results such as theEconomic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). Taiwan certainly has a very
unique experience in dealing with China and can share such knowledge with othercountries in the region as they cope with China’s rise.

3Session 2: Specific Issue Areas for Cooperation among Middle Powers
Session II: Part 1
Moderator: Chaesung Chun
Presenters: Yul Sohn, Fu-Kuo Liu, Isao Miyaoka
Session II: Part 2Moderator: Yoshihide Soeya
Presenters: Seungjoo Lee, Francis Kan, Hiroshi Nakanishi
1) Economic Cooperation
Middle powers should seek to harmonize conflicting and overlapping
institutions such as FTA networks and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Economic ties
tend to be a form of optimistic cooperation that helps to alleviate tensions in the region.
However, the emergence of overlapping economic institutions has raised competition
between the United States and China over regional leadership. In recent years, theUnited States has been advocating its Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) while China has
been emphasizing FTA networks centered on its growing economy and huge domestic
market. Middle powers should work to assure the great powers that these overlapping
institutions can be harmonized. As the TPP and the FTA networks have different
requirements and aims, they do not have to be in competition with one another. As
newly emerging economies, middle powers can play a broker role between advanced anddeveloping countries. Taking on the role of a broker is an important part of being a
middle power. As many middle powers in East Asia have emerged from a background as
developing economies they are well suited for this role. In fact, a few countries such as
South Korea have been actively trying to pursue a broker role in internationalorganizations. It is important though to recognize that this role is not for one single
country alone, but rather for many countries to collaborate and work together on.
2) Regional Security/Strategic Cooperation
Middle powers can shape the environment to facilitate China’s rise as a statusquo power. Considering China’s long-term goals that look at reaching developmental
targets, such as increased income levels, by 2021 and 2049, it is expected that China
will more likely be a status quo power. However, China will still display some degree ofassertiveness in the region. Middle powers should shape the regional and global
environment that China will emerge in to ensure it will become a status quo power.
Competition in the region will derive from who takes the lead. While China may not4challenge the United States as a global power, there may develop competition between
the two countries over regional leadership. The pursuit of different regional economicarchitecture is indicative of such competition between Beijing and Washington over theregion. The security architecture of the region is also an area for competition where theUnited States is strengthening its alliances while China advocates a more multilateral
security framework. This will be one of the main challenges for middle powers tocontend with and mediate between the great powers.
3) Official Development Aid
It is important to link national interests with international norms Although
there has been much interest in Official Development Aid (ODA) among emerging
countries such as South Korea, the interest has generally been limited only to extending
national interests. The challenge will be then to merge national interests withinternational norms so that these countries can take on a stronger role in international
development. Different actors and models add to the complexity of ODA. Withemerging donors now becoming major players in providing ODA, they also bringdifferent developmental models and different interests. Along with these countries,
non-state actors and individuals are also taking on a major role in providing aid. The
impact of this is a more complex picture of ODA that will require mediation among thedifferent donors, something that middle powers can provide.
4) Changing Cross-Strait Relations and Peace and Security in East Asia
Common norms across the Taiwan Strait can strengthen relations. China andTaiwan have managed to overcome zero-sum perceptions on relations and strengthen
economic ties. While there is a consensus on developing economic ties and agreements
can be reached on this, such ties will be greatly enhanced by the sharing of common
norms. This can be the basis for restoring trust between the two sides over moredifficult areas such as security issues. Taiwan must also be involved in the regional
process. With the signing of the ECFA, Taiwan now has an opportunity to become
more involved in the regional architecture. In this respect, Taiwan will need thesupport of other countries to support its participation in regionalism. Such support cancome through increased bilateral economic ties with countries in the region.
5) Disaster Relief
Disaster Relief will become a major task for military forces in the region.
While national security is the main concern for middle powers in East Asia,

5humanitarian operations such as disaster relief are becoming increasingly important.
As these middle powers expand their roles internationally, they have to meet thechallenges faced by disasters occurring in other countries. This will be a task for themilitary forces of these middle powers as they undergone modernization requiring newlevels of training and preparation. In the wake of a disaster, sharing information iscrucial to manage properly the situation. The recent Fukushima accident revealed theimportance of governments’ sharing information on the nature of and scale of theaccident. Such information should also include warnings to neighboring states about
the fallout effects, such as when Japan dumped contaminated water from the
Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. This should not be restricted to the state-level,
but should also include the public which is important to avoid further mitigating
damage and creating general panic.

List of Participants
JapanIsao MIYAOKA: Associate Professor of the Faculty of Law of Keio University
Hiroshi NAKANISHI: Professor rofessor of Graduate School of Law of Kyoto University
Yoshihide SOEYA: Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies, Professor of theFaculty of Law of Keio University.
Korea
Kang CHOI: Director-General for American Studies at the Institute of Foreign Affairs
and National Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Chaesung CHUN: Professor of the Department of Political Science and International
Relations at Seoul National University/ Director of Asian Security Initiative ResearchCenter of East Asian Institute
Young Ho KIM: Professor and Department Chair at the Department of International
Relations in Korea National Defense University (KNDU)
Sang Hyun LEE: Director-General for Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and TradeSeungjoo LEE: Associate Professor of political science at Chung-Ang University
Yul SOHN: Professor of Graduate School of International Studies of Yonsei University6Taiwan
Yih-Chyi CHUANG: Distinguished Professor of the Department of Economics and theDean of College of Social Sciences at National Chengchi University
Francis Yi-hua KAN: Associate research fellow at the Institute of International
Relations, Adjunct associate professor at the Department of Diplomacy, and Director ofthe European Union Research Centre, National Chengchi UniversityMing LEE: Professor of Department of Diplomacy, Director of the Center for KoreanStudies, National Chengchi University
Fu-Kuo LIU: Research Fellow at the Research Division of American and EuropeanStudies, the Institute of International Relations (IIR), National Chengchi University,Adjunct Professor in regional security at the International Doctorate Program in Asia
Pacific Studies (IDAS), College of Social Science, National Chengchi University7