After stalling for more than four years, South Korea, China and Japan finally held their annual trilateral summit on Monday in Seoul. Although the conference saw no substantial progress in the efforts to address politically sensitive issues, the fact that the leaders of the three countries were willing to convene at all contributed much to a meaningful reduction of tension and distrust among them.

The 8th Trilateral Business Summit brought together South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol as the host, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

While President Xi Jinping's absence might raise questions about Beijing's genuine commitment to the relationship with its two neighbors, it is common practice for either the president or the premier to represent China at multilateral meetings.

The situation in Northeast Asia is very dangerous. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is threatening nuclear war, and China is trying to take over Taiwan under a reunification narrative. These are among the reasons that war could break out in the region. Meanwhile, Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul are at odds with each other.

The world watched as the leaders shook hands, discussed issues and made a joint declaration. The three countries are the most important trading and economic partners of ASEAN.

Southeast Asian countries closely follow the development of their very wealthy northeastern neighbors: China is the world’s second-largest economy, followed by Japan and South Korea, and their combined GDP accounts for more than 20 percent of the global GDP.

Indonesia considers the China, Japan and South Korea as its most important investors and trading partners and crucial to its economy. This is why the three countries are always on the mind of any Indonesian president.

In their joint declaration, Yoon, Kishida and Li said maintaining peace, stability and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia were in everyone's interest. They also agreed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and to make positive efforts for the political settlement of the peninsula’s issue.

Despite differing views on the two main issues and the reluctance of Yoon and Kishida to distance themselves from their main military ally the United States, as Beijing has often requested, the meeting made progress on a number of fronts.

In a surprising turn of events, Pyongyang announced hours before the summit that it would soon put a much more deadly spy satellite into orbit. The announcement was not well received by either Yoon or Kishida and it also caused concern for Li, whose country is the most important trading partner and North Korea’s only ally.

It is to be expected that any political or military instability and tension will have both direct and indirect impacts on the 10-member ASEAN. It would be remiss not to mention the fact that the three countries, in particular China and Japan, are engaged in a high-level competition to boost their influence and power among economically weaker nations. ASEAN is also becoming increasingly concerned about Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea.

The three leaders said they wanted to work more with the regional bloc through the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit. They also talked about the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) led by ASEAN, the world’s second-largest trading bloc. All three major economies are part of the RCEP.

Despite their disagreements and different approaches, the summit made progress in economy and trade, climate change, people-to-people exchanges, science and health, and aging populations.

President Yoon deserves a pat on the back for successfully completing the pretty tough mission of bringing the three countries together. This was definitely a big win. And the three leaders made some progress, even if it wasn't earth-shattering.