In contrast to its multilateral efforts in Europe, the US created a hub-and-spoke security framework – formed by US-centered bilateral alliances – in Asia following WWII. One result is that no direct channel for security cooperation among Asian countries was ever established, which has contributed to the low level of trust in East Asia, even among close US allies like Japan and South Korea.
与在欧洲的多边努力不同，二战结束后美国在亚洲建立了中心辐射型安全框架——以美国为中心的双边盟友关系。由此带来的一个结果是亚洲国家之间从未建立过直接的安全合作渠道，而这又导致了东亚国家之间缺乏信任，即使是同为美国盟友的日本和韩国。这也是作为美国中等规模盟友的韩国比东北亚其他更大的国家更适合担任促进器的原因。