pacific forum History of Pacific Forum

Issues & Insights Vol. 12 – No. 1 – Trilateral Strategic Cooperative Mechanism Among Japan, the United States, and Vietnam: A P

This Trilateral Strategic Cooperative Mechanism is a part of the Japan-US-X Project promoted by Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) Fellows of the Pacific Forum. This project has three objectives: first, it seeks to revitalize the alliance by reaching out to new partners and engaging the region. The Japan-US-X mechanism can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or even larger. Partners can be other Asia-Pacific nations as well as countries further afield to solve transnational challenges including piracy, terrorism, trafficking, and cybersecurity. Second, it aims to raise the appreciation, profile, and value of the Japan-US alliance in the region and beyond by integrating the alliance more deeply into the regional security architecture. Finally, this project hopes to promote the minilateral model for regional security architecture where partners can and are encouraged to accept new roles beyond their traditional areas of responsibility, to contribute more to regional safety and stability.

The Japan-US-Vietnam mechanism is the second proposal in this project. The first proposal, “The United States, Japan, and the Republic of the Philippines: Toward a Trilateral Maritime Partnership for the 21st Century,” was published in 2011. (For details, contact the Pacific Forum at [email protected].)