TOKYO -- U.S. foreign policy is shifting from multilateralism to minilateralism, as Washington teams up with a handful of like-minded countries to pursue common agendas in groupings such as the Quad, AUKUS, Five Eyes and the D-10 Strategy Forum.

China, meanwhile, is calling for more comprehensive multilateralism, using existing frameworks such as the United Nations and the Group of 20.

Ironically, China's version is closer to the original concept of multilateralism that the U.S. pursued after World War II, according to Lee Shin-wha, an international relations professor at Korea University and the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's ambassador-at-large on North Korean human rights issues. Lee has been a member of the Trilateral Commission, the influential but secretive Track 2 forum, for 20 years.

 

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