On the morning of October 22, 2021, the East Asian Sages Forum "Sino-US Competition and East Asia" open meeting was held in a combination of online and offline. Da Wei, deputy director of CISS and professor of the Department of International Relations at Tsinghua University, Chung-in Moon, member of the board of directors of the East Asia Foundation and former Special Assistant to the President of South Korea for Unified Diplomacy and Security, Sunghwan Kim, chairman of the East Asia Foundation and former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commerce of the Republic of Korea, Cheol Hee Park, dean of the Institute of International Affairs at Seoul National University, and Ichiro Fujisaki, former Ambassador of Japan to the United States, Barry Pavel, Senior Vice President of the Atlantic Council and Director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, and Miyeon Oh, Director and Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council's Asia Security Program, were invited to attend. The meeting publicly released the strategic report of the East Asian Sages Forum and held a roundtable discussion on "Sino-US Competition and East Asia". The participants exchanged views on China-US relations and multilateral cooperation mechanisms in East Asia.
East Asian Sages Forum Open Meeting
In the first section of the meeting, Park Chul-hee introduced the results of the discussions of the two closed-door meetings of the East Asian Sages Forum and the general content of the strategy report. The report, co-authored by quartet representatives, features "From Dangerous Contest to Competitive Coexistence: Ways to Avoid U.S.-China Conflict," and analyzes the two major issues of "competition" and "cooperation" in East Asia in the context of U.S.-China tensions. The report recommends that China, the United States and other countries in East Asia should not fear "competition" but should support healthy competition that can promote innovation and sustainable development. At the same time, countries should not adopt a completely decoupling approach to solving the problem of competition, but rather maintain a benign network of interdependence and cooperation. In addition, East Asian countries should jointly promote regional multilateral cooperation mechanisms to resolve regional conflicts and maintain sustainable regional prosperity. East Asia will continue to be the main force in the development of Asia and the world, so it is more necessary to conform to the trend of world economic growth and play its leading role in promoting regional cooperation and development. At the press conference, Dawei, as a co-author of the report, thanked the dialogue platform provided by the East Asian Sage Forum and the contributions made by experts and scholars from all sides to the report, and proposed that in the future, in-depth cooperation should be continued, and experts from all parties should be invited to discuss the definition, ultimate purpose and possible consequences of keywords such as "competition" in more depth.
Park Chul-hee released the forum strategy report
The second session of the open meeting was a roundtable discussion, moderated by Jin Xinghuan, with Chinese guests Dawei, US guest Barry Pavel, South Korean guest Wen Zhengren, and Japanese guest Ichiro Fujisaki on the modus operandi approach to sino-US relations, the impact of alliance mechanisms such as Quad and AUKUS on Sino-US relations, and the feasibility of Joint Participation in Multilateral Mechanisms in East Asia. Barry Pavel said that the actual operation of the US-China relationship is not from scratch, and the upcoming Sino-US online summit will be a positive step towards achieving this goal. Ichiro Fujisaki believes that alliance mechanisms such as Quad and AUKUS should always be open and transparent, and promised that their activities in the Indo-Pacific region are not aimed at China, so that it is possible to maintain Sino-US relations and prevent the escalation of regional conflicts. Da Wei said that in order to avoid the deterioration of Sino-US relations, the two countries need to give each other more respect and empathy, and should always remain calm and objective during discussions between the two sides, and the goal setting should not be too high. In addition, Dawei said that China can further strengthen bilateral cooperation with Japan, India, Australia, South Korea and other regions, and China's bilateral relations with Countries in the Indo-Pacific region should not be affected by Sino-US competition, let alone ignored and covered up because of Sino-US relations. Wen Zhengren agreed with Da Wei's views and said that the United States should not continue to demonize China, and that China and the United States should try to restore trust in each other so as to build a more open and inclusive Indo-Pacific pattern under the multilateral cooperation and efforts of East Asian countries.
The quartet of guests held a roundtable discussion
The East Asian Sages Forum is hosted by the Institute of International Affairs, Seoul National University, South Korea, with the participation of the Center for Strategic and Security Studies of Tsinghua University, the Atlantic Council of the United States, and the Nakasone Institute for Peace in Japan. The forum aims to strengthen cooperation among East Asian countries to safeguard multilateralism in the Asia-Pacific region and jointly address global challenges. Prior to this public meeting, the forum held two closed-door meetings in February and March 2021.
Written by: Yuan Weiyu
Reviewer: Huang Xiaojia