Joe Biden hosted this Friday the leaders of Japan and South Korea in Camp David for a summit that he described as “historic” and in which he sent a message of unity against China.
In the bucolic presidential residence, Biden praised the “political courage” of the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeoland the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishidafor turning the page on historical animosity.
“Your leadership, with the full support of the United States, has brought us here because each of you understands that our world is at a inflection point», declared the US president at a joint press conference in the wooded hills outside Washington.
Biden insisted that the summit It was not directed against China. that under Xi Jinping’s presidency it has flexed its muscles, including with maneuvers near Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing wants to control, if necessary by force.
But in a joint statement, the three leaders said that they opposed China’s “dangerous and aggressive behavior” in maritime disputes in the East and South China Sea. “We strongly oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in Indo-Pacific waters,” they said.
The two US allies agree on many international issues – and together they host some 84,500 US troops – but such a summit would have been unthinkable until recently due to the legacy of the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula between 1910 and 1945.
A ‘vision of the future’
But Yoon, taking political risks at home, has turned the page by resolving a dispute over wartime forced labor, and now call japan partner at a time of high tensions with both China and North Korea.
Yoon is committed to a “vision of the future” and described the summit as “historic day” for providing a “firm institutional foundation” to the relationship between the three nations.
The three leaders agreed on a multi-year plan of military exercises in all areas, beyond the specific drills in response to North Korea, and formally committed to consult in case of crisis. They also agreed to share real-time data on North Korea and hold summits every year.
It is the first time that the leaders of the three countries meet in an independent summit and the first diplomatic act since 2015 at Camp David, a place that is synonymous with pacification in the Middle East.
as expected, Beijing opposes this new dialogue. His foreign minister, Wang Yi, made this clear recently.
“No matter how blonde you dye your hair or how much you narrow your nose, you can never become a European or an American, you can never become a Westerner,” he declared in reference to Seoul and Tokyo in a video shared on official media. “We must know where our roots are,” she said.
And he urged China, South Korea and Japan to “work together.”
three-way cooperation
They have also increased tensions with North Koreawhich has launched a barrage of missiles in recent months and it is feared that it will respond to the summit with new actions of this type.
The leaders’ joint statement renewed the call on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and urged all nations to enforce the sanctions.
The summit has transcended Asia.
Tokyo and Seoul have provided a great boost to Ukraine as major non-Western powers against the Russian invasion.
The summit aims to institutionalize the three-way cooperation to make it difficult to back down in the future, for example if a South Korean president hostile to Japan is elected.
To the surprise of many observers, Yoon’s outreach to Japan has raised some protests in the country.
Yoon, a conservative, has quickly become a close ally of the United States, and Biden welcomed him on a state visit where the South Korean leader regaled the audience. singing American Pie. But he can only serve one term that ends in 2027.
