Key question about China is about rules

JON M. HUNTSMAN JR.*

How would you comment on last week’s China-Japan-South Korea summit that pledges to “completely restore” relations?

The trilateral summit that had been suspended since 2012 marked an important step toward reconciliation – bilaterally for ROK-Japan and China-Japan relations, as well as multilaterally for NE Asia at large. While the Summit has been tenuous in “completely restoring” relations, it is an important step toward achieving stability in the region. If it holds and trilateral cooperation is renewed, it would be an important mechanism for economic, environmental and political cooperation.

What would you like to say on China’s changing role in world economy, security?

China has clearly become a major power, both in the Asia-Pacific region as well as globally. The question is whether it seeks to abide by a global set of norms or if it will seek to write its own rules. This question looms behind the current situation in the South China Sea that remains an ideologically disputed topic between the United States and China over freedom of navigation and whether China will honor its commitment to the Law of the Sea Treaty to which it is a signatory.

*Chairman, Atlantic Council