US, Japan and South Korea reject China’s “dangerous” behavior

2023-08-18 21:51:03

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That is the slogan that marks the relationship between South Korea and Japan, and the message that the United States has wanted to encourage in the first trilateral summit between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo. Nothing more and nothing less than the Camp David presidential rest residence has been chosen for the meeting. This base located in the Catoctin mountains, in the state of Maryland, barely an hour from the capital, is a tattoo of American diplomatic nature and its scope. The White House throws an overflow of elegance with its Asian allies, whom it wants closer than ever before the advance of China in the Indo-Pacific region. “I can’t think of a better place to do it than this,” Joe Biden explained at the final joint conference.

The three leaders yesterday repudiated the “dangerous” and “aggressive” behavior of Beijing in the South China Sea. Dubbed “the spirit of Camp David,” the final statement uses harsh language to refer to the action in the South China Sea. The summit between Joe Biden with his counterparts Yoon Suk Yeol, from South Korea, and Fumio Kishida, from Japan, confirms that the three countries share serious mutual concerns about China’s pursuit of domination in military, technological, economic and diplomatic fields, as well as equally acute threats from North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

“We have made history,” said the US president, “our world is at a turning point that asks us to work together,” said Biden, who also said that “we commit to respond together to threats or crises that affect any of our countries”.

To deal with this scenario, the establishment of a “crisis hotline” was announced, described as a “next-generation trilateral hotline” to be used in “moments of crisis and uncertainty.” The Biden Administration warned, however, that the measure should not be interpreted as a threat to any other country in the region, in anticipation of possible reactions from China.

Of course Beijing does not see it that way. In fact, hours before the summit, Xi Jinping’s government strongly criticized the initiative, which he described as a “mini-NATO”. China has warned the three leaders not to get in the way of the Taiwan issue, in the midst of tensions in the Strait and now that military cooperation agreements have also just been signed between this bloc.

The meeting served as an excuse for the strengthening of relations between Seoul and Tokyo, which have historically been tense. Now with the announcement that they will meet periodically, it seems that we can take the success of this first time for granted. Both Yoon and Kishida are credited for having invested significant political capital in easing tensions between the two nations, with long-standing grievances ranging from Tokyo’s human rights atrocities against Koreans during World War II, territorial disputes, and contemporary issues of bilateral economic and environmental issues.

Another key aspect of the trilateral summit is the intention to normalize the working relationship between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo and insulate it against changing policies in each respective country.

As a prelude, the president of South Korea had visited the White House last April with the progress of the North Korean nuclear project as the center of debate. Then, Biden warned that “a nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies and partners is unacceptable and will mean the end of any regime that carries out such an action.”

Now, what happened at Camp David marks an important milestone in the collaboration and strengthening of security ties between these countries. Despite historical tensions and current concerns about China and North Korea, the leaders said they are working on a “courageous diplomacy” approach to move toward deeper engagement.