China, Japan and South Korea have explored combining their economic might with a trade alliance. But territorial squabbles and other roadblocks have stood in the way of that goal.
Japan, China and South Korea recently came together for their first trilateral summit in three years. The summit, established a decade ago, has the potential to forge an economic bloc among the three that would have a major economic impact on global trade. But that can only happen if the regional powers can resolve territorial disputes, leadership squabbles and debates over the contentious future of the two Koreas. What Happened? On May 9 in Tokyo, leaders from China, South Korea and Japan held their 2018 trilateral summit to address a number of concerning global developments. Since the summit was initiated in 2008 , the countries have gathered seven times, most recently in 2015.
