The United States and Japan reaffirmed the strength of their alliance during a summit in Washington D.C. on April 27, the first meeting of their heads of government since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Japan, stressing "friendship" throughout his trip. Wen hardly ever mentioned Japan's wartime history.
These are all vivid efforts by the three big powers in their competition to create a new framework of restraint and cooperation.
From an economic standpoint, the United States and Japan need China, but the two countries are stuck in a dilemma of having to confront China in terms of security. China is aiming to become a global superpower that can take on the United States. But until then, China needs to maintain good relations with both the United States and Japan.
The fundamental source of instability in Northeast Asian political climate is this very contradiction between economic needs and security conditions. In order to handle this situation, there are growing calls within the United States to create a tripartite group composed of the U.S., China and Japan. This is the proposal by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former top security advisor to the White House. The "Second Armitage Report," which is referred to as the textbook of U.S. policy in Asia, also focuses on the tripartite group. The emergence of such a grouping of the three superpowers means less and less room for Korea to have its say in matters involving the Korean Peninsula (Source: english.chosun.com, Apr 30, 2007)