China and the U.S. have naturally impinged on each other, and this has also been the case
for both multilateral and mini-lateral regional institutions. China has valued the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) + 3 as a main vehicle for cementing cooperation in East Asia,
while downplaying a broader version of a regional institution, the East Asia Summit (EAS), as a
forum for talks. Though the U.S. was a latecomer to those institutions, it upholds the EAS as one of
the defining institutions among the various and multilayered institutions in Asia. A similar picture
may be drawn with respect to trilateral cooperation between China, Japan, and Korea (CJK) versus
Korea, Japan, and the U.S. On the economic side, as well, many would like to compare the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Tran-Pacific Partnership (TPP) from the
perspective of China-U.S. rivalry.