In June 2024, the United States Studies Centre hosted the inaugural Track 1.5 Trilateral Dialogue between representatives of Australia, Japan and South Korea (AJK). The dialogue was designed to advance the policy debate on trilateral approaches to shared strategic objectives while supporting Track 1 efforts in this space.

This dialogue built on the momentum generated by Australia’s Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with South Korea and Special Strategic Partnership with Japan; the 2022 Australia-Japan Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation; Australia’s recent Foreign and Defence Ministers’ 2+2 meetings with South Korea and Japan; and recent improvements in Japan-South Korea relations to provide a new forum for three of America’s most important and capable allies to enhance coordination, strengthening ‘spoke-to-spoke’ ties and coordinating their resources in support of shared regional strategic objectives.

Importantly, the concept of AJK trilateralism that underpinned this dialogue was not about advancing novel foreign policy agendas or alternative international orders. Instead, trilateralism was viewed as a means to leverage growing Austral-ia-Japan-South Korea relations in a multipolar Asia to advance shared strategic objectives around security, development and resilience in a way that complements and supports existing regional security architectures, in particular those formalised in the ANZUS Treaty, the US-Japan Treaty, and the US-ROK Treaty.

The dialogue was attended by approximately 50 representatives from Australian, Japanese and South Korean government, academia and industry, who undertook wide-ranging discussions on the state of and prospects for AJK trilateralism. This outcomes report summarises the main findings from this activity.

Outcomes report

This report summarises the outcomes of the dialogue, including major themes, debates and recommendations that emerged.

The United States Studies Centre would like to thank the Australia-Japan Foundation and the Australia-Korea Foundation for their generous support of this activity.