Managing Asia's Core Power Relationship

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will hold the countries' fifth trilateral summit in Beijing on May 13-14. The trilateral meetings grew out of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) dialogue initiative but are now held outside ASEAN auspices.

Discussions are increasing in Asia over the possibility of greater regional integration. However, any advance toward this end requires a center of gravity, and the geopolitics of China and Japan, the region's two most important powers, make them more likely to compete than to cooperate.