In 2011 a dinner reception hosted by a think tank in New Delhi sparked the idea of a formal trilateral between India, South Korea, and Japan. The idea soon bore fruit: the first India-Japan-ROK Trilateral Dialogue, involving a secretary from India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the ambassadors to India of Japan and South Korea, was hosted by India in June 2012. The second took place in November 2013 in Japan.
However, that effort did not progress smoothly from there. The trilateral could not succeed due to the absence of some important elements such as strategic alignment and strong convergence between the three partners. In addition, there was a hesitation at the time, leading the parties to only focus on “softer, noncontroversial issues.” All these issues led to the failure of the nascent trilateral. However, that effort gave some critical insights that need to be incorporated to build a more successful trilateral in its second coming.
As the India-Japan-South Korea trilateral re-emerges, it is important to look at it from a new perspective. The current era demands the addition of new strategic vocabulary and a focus on critical issues and themes in the trilateral. The renewed effort to resuscitate the trilateral must take note of the changing regional environment, from Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific, reflecting the importance of rules-based international order, essential to safeguard maritime trade and security.
We have identified three major areas where the trilateral can focus initially: Indo-Pacific maritime security, development cooperation, and critical and emerging technology, including semiconductors, electric vehicles (EVs), and critical minerals.
Re-emergence of the Trilateral: Finding New Convergences
This article is an attempt to again nudge forward the trilateral cooperation between the three countries, particularly as Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visits South Korea and Japan from March 5 to 8. His visit to both East Asian countries highlights the common threads linking all three, driving the increasing need to have a trilateral today.
This is made easier today as all three countries are engaged in various trilaterals with each other and other partners: India-Japan-U.S., Australia-India-Japan, India-South Korea-U.S., and Japan-South Korea-U.S.
Another point in favor of reviving this trilateral is that India, Japan, and South Korea are more comfortable with the Indo-Pacific concept than they were 10 years ago. The three states have converging interests between India’s Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific vision, South Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, and Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Vision.
The first important area that demands cooperation is maritime regional security. The entire Indo-Pacific region is experiencing turbulence in the maritime domain; from the western Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, conflict is affecting maritime trade and energy security. Concerns regarding the Red Sea crisis have risen in Japan, South Korea, and India. In this regard, India has taken the responsibility to provide security to vessels moving from the western Indian Ocean toward East Asia in line with its SAGAR vision. Japan and South Korea can utilize this opportunity to collaborate with India on maritime security focusing on the Indo-Pacific region, particularly the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and South China Sea, where all three have converging interests.
India can take a leadership role in the IOR. Defense cooperation through coordinated maritime patrols, anti-piracy operations, and strengthening maritime domain awareness are some areas where the three can work together. Japan and South Korea can leverage trilateral relations with India to bolster maritime security initiatives in the IOR and Southeast Asia.
Japan’s Official Security Assistance program, India’s developmental aid, and South Korea’s military cooperation with regional countries can be synchronized to achieve two aims: defense modernization and developing capabilities (sharing best practices, joint exercises, and military collaboration). For Instance, India, South Korea, and Japan are helping in building the Philippines’ maritime capabilities in their respective bilateral formats.
The second focus area for a resurrected India-Japan-South Korea trilateral should be development cooperation, particularly on high-quality infrastructure and connectivity projects in South Asia. Japan is currently engaged in nine developmental projects worth $1.55 billion across sectors in the region. Similarly, South Korea is also looking to increase its ODA to India. This aid will be used to build the infrastructure that is necessary for economic growth, such as roads, bridges, and airports. Japan and South Korea can coordinate their ODA projects in India. Northeast India is one subregion where the three can collaborate on projects, giving much impetus to easing connectivity with Southeast Asia, which converges with the interests of all three partners. The three can also coordinate better on foreign ODA such as the railway project in the Philippines.
Further, South Korea and Japan can harmonize institutional working methods between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to ease bureaucratic and budgetary hurdles in India and South Asia to fund ODA projects. The two aid agencies could create a basket fund to be utilized for project implementation. This can be a coordinated approach rather than a joint approach, which will be more flexible. These projects can also be focused on imparting training skills that help in achieving the SDGs of low-income developing countries in the region.
The third area of cooperation is critical and emerging technology (CET). Already, India is looking to expand its manufacturing capacity and is attracting South Korean and Japanese tech conglomerates to invest in semiconductor supply chains, EVs, and critical minerals. Many South Korean and Japanese companies are looking to diversify their new investments in the region, and India is emerging as an attractive alternative in a “China plus one” strategy. India with its incentives, market, economic growth potential, and human capital stands out among other options.
Establishing a trilateral focused on CET will enhance the existing tech partnership. EVs and critical mineral supply chain cooperation is another vital area of cooperation, as all three countries have an embedded interest in de-risking supply chains from China for their economic security. The three countries can form their own version of the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology to enhance collaboration in R&D, in line with the announcement of the India-South Korea-U.S. CET informal dialogue last year.
India, Japan, and South Korea must take the opportunity to fortify their partnership to safeguard their interests and uphold the international rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific, as befits their expanding stature. This is the appropriate time for India, Japan, and South Korea to bolster this trilateral cooperative mechanism, particularly after correcting the mistakes that it made in the past. The three avenues of collaboration mentioned above – Indo-Pacific maritime security, development cooperation, and critical and emerging technology – can be the initial focal points that can later be expanded to other sectors.