Introduction
For the 40 years from 1949 to 1989, Sino-Soviet-US relations strongly influenced the political, economic, and security structure of East Asia.
Today, though Beijing, Tokyo, and Washington would each decry any intent of “great power chauvinism,” “hegemonism,” “condominium,” or “spheres of influence within a balance of power,” Sino-Japanese-US relations now increasingly set the broad contours of East Asia’s political, economic, and security relations. Within this emerging flexible framework, the Republic of Korea, the ASEAN countries, and others also shape regional direction and dynamics. This is especially true as the shifting global competitive realities of the post-Cold War information age affect an ongoing period of structural adjustment which confronts each country in the world, regardless of its size, geopolitical position, or stage of political, economic, or social development.
Through an examination of US-Japanese-Chinese relations, this paper explores some of these factors of global and regional structural adjustment, with particular reference to possible implications for Korea. It does so in three parts: I. Conceptual Contours of the Post-Cold War World Affecting US-Japanese-Chinese Relations II. Washington, Beijing, Tokyo: Trilateral Relations Amidst Domestic Changes III. New Issues and Outlooks
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