President Biden meets leaders of Japan and South Korea/Discussions on security issues

2023-08-18 21:55:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

President Biden meets leaders of Japan and South Korea/Discussions on security

The US president's Camp David retreat will once again be at the center of international diplomacy history, this time to strengthen a tripartite alliance between the United States and its two Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, in response to North Korea and China.

Friday's high-level meeting, hosted by President Joe Biden, aims to "finalize trilateral engagement," including a pledge by Washington, Tokyo and Seoul to create an open relationship between the three countries in case of emergency as well as the possibility of consultation during regional crises, according to a senior official of the US administration.

The three countries will commit, when faced with a regional insecurity or threat, to immediately consult, share intelligence and coordinate actions, another senior administration official said.

" The message we convey is that we share an interconnected security environment ," said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. " A threat to one of us is essentially a threat to each of us ."

The second official insisted that this commitment is not a formal military alliance or a commitment to collective defense - as China and North Korea have called it.

Pyongyang and Beijing have described the meeting at Camp David as Washington's attempt to create a "mini-NATO" in Asia.

The obligation to consult during the crisis is the latest development in the wake of pledges for trilateral defense cooperation, including regular military exercises, as well as economic security cooperation - strengthening supply routes, cyber security and intelligence artificial. The three countries will adopt what will be known as the "Camp David Principles," a list of values ??and norms on peace and well-being in the Indo-Pacific region.

Those tenets of Friday's meeting came only after tensions eased in relations between South Korea and Japan, its former occupier, following months of diplomatic engagement between the two governments to put aside their difficult history and mutual mistrust and to to focus on current security challenges.

" Korea and Japan are now partners who share common values ??and have the same goals ," South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a speech marking the 78th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 35-year colonial rule. , which ended in 1945.

The reason for the United States to formalize the commitment in this institutional form is related to the need to make it impossible to go back from this reduction of tensions between South Korea and Japan if the current leaders of the three countries are replaced by leaders who are not committed to these principles.

Focusing on preventing threats from North Korea and China is also a good way to gain support in national politics in Seoul and Tokyo.

" These are acceptable and necessary political mechanisms that do not run into political obstacles ," said Shihoko Goto, director at the Woodrow Wilson Center. " Japan and Korea are aware that the situation in the Indo-Pacific region is very turbulent ".

US administration officials did not clarify whether trilateral consultations on the regional crisis include concerns in the Taiwan Strait.

While a coordinated response to a possible attack from Beijing may be something Washington considers in the future, South Korea is not as coordinated with the United States as Japan is against the threat from China, says Jeffrey Hornung, an expert senior specializing in East Asian security at the Rand Corporation.

"Considering how difficult it was for Japan and Korea to cooperate on most issues, I think it should start where they share a common concern, which in this case is North Korea," he told VOA .

South Korea has already shown willingness to expand trilateral cooperation.

Next high-level meetings

The leaders will commit to the annual meeting and not retreat from the principles adopted at Camp David, a senior US administration official said.

" We are trying not only to connect Japan and South Korea together, but also the USA, to make it clear to everyone that we are here to stay in the Indo-Pacific region ", he added.

Long-term commitment matters. There is concern that the American promise of cooperation could be undone if Mr. Donald Trump is re-elected president in 2024.

Based on his "America First" presidential doctrine, Mr. Trump withdrew from various international treaties and regional commitments. The former president is also remembered for his relationship with the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un./ VOA