North Korea's intransigence has halted, at least for the time being, the six-party talks, which many had hoped would evolve into a permanent structure to promote peace and security in the region. There have been proposals that the remaining five parties - the US, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia - should hold a meeting to plan the way forward. But that is purely in terms of dealing with North Korea, rather than as a step towards creating a security structure for the region.
It is especially important, in the absence of a multilateral framework, for the major powers in the Asia-Pacific region to maintain regular dialogue. Currently, the US talks to its allies Japan and South Korea on a regular basis.
Recent media reports suggest that the US, China and Japan will hold their first three-way dialogue soon. This is the most encouraging news regarding the security and future of East Asia in some time. The trilateral discussions were proposed by China.
During the Bush administration, there was talk of various trilateral and other formats, which were often presented as associations of democracies. But, whenever that term is used, the unspoken understanding is that the target is China.
However, if there is to be a trilateral framework for East Asia, the natural one would consist of the US, China and Japan. They are not only key players in the region, they also happen to be the world's three biggest economies.
Triangular diplomacy was the speciality of Henry Kissinger during the Richard Nixon administration, when he improved relations with China to extract concessions from the Soviet Union and tilted the US towards Pakistan and away from India.