James Steinberg, vice president of the Brookings Institution, said in his presentation that the idea of closer cooperation among democracies in the region "has important appeal, if cast in an appropriate light."
He argued that cooperation between Washington, Tokyo and Seoul through a trilateral cooperation group, despite its focus on coordinating policy toward North Korea, is a good example of successful cooperation among democracies.
This is because, he said, the mechanism "has not had the effect of making it more difficult to deal with either China ... or North Korea."
Steinberg stressed that a cooperative approach with other regional democracies is vital for Washington, in light of the perception that "the US promotion of democracy is a thinly disguised, unilateral effort to impose US values on others."
"An initial focus on `soft security,' including humanitarian relief, support for NGOs and civil society dialogue can help dispel fears that cooperation among regional democracies is designed to create an alliance `against' non-democracies, rather than for democratic principles," he stressed.
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