The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This is the slogan that characterizes South Korea-Japan relations and the embassy of the United States wanted to encourage first trilateral summit between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo. No more and no less than the President’s resting place at Camp David was chosen for the meeting. This base in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, barely an hour from the capital, is a testament to American diplomacy and its reach. The White House throws an excess of elegance on its Asian allies, which it wants tighter than ever ahead of China’s advance in the Indo-Pacific region. “I can’t think of a better place than this to do that,” he explained. Joe Biden at the final joint conference.
The three leaders yesterday dismissed Beijing’s “dangerous” and “aggressive” behavior in the South China Sea. The final statement, dubbed “the spirit of Camp David,” referenced the action in the South China Sea in harsh language. The summit meeting between Joe Biden and his counterparts Yoon Suk Yeolfrom South Korea, and Fumio Kishidafrom Japan, confirms that the three countries share serious mutual concerns about China’s quest for military, technological, economic and diplomatic dominance, as well as the equally acute threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
“We made history,” he said. US President “Our world is at a tipping point that calls for us to work together”condemned Biden, who also said, “We commit to responding collectively to any threat or crisis affecting any of our countries.”
To deal with this scenario, it announced the creation of a “crisis hotline”, dubbed the “next generation trilateral hotline”, to be used in “moments of crisis and uncertainty”. However, pending possible reactions from China, the Biden administration warned that the measure should not be interpreted as a threat to any other country in the region.
Of course, Beijing doesn’t see it that way. In fact, the government made the decision a few hours before the summit Xi Jinping sharply criticized the initiative that described as “mini-NATO”. China has warned the three leaders not to get in each other’s way over Taiwan amid tensions in the Straits and now that military cooperation deals have also just been signed between that bloc.
The meeting served as a pretext to strengthen the traditionally strained relationship between Seoul and Tokyo. Now that we have announced that they will meet regularly, we can take for granted the success of this first time. Both Yoon and Kishida are credited with investing significant political capital in defusing tensions between the two nations. The long-standing grievances range from Tokyo’s human rights abuses against Koreans during World War II, to territorial disputes, to current bilateral economic and environmental issues.
Another key aspect of the trilateral summit is the intention to normalize working relations between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo and to insulate them against changing politics in the respective countries.
As a prelude, the South Korean President visited the White House last April, with the debate focussing on the progress of North Korea’s nuclear project. Biden then 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 action.”
Now, What happened at Camp David marks an important milestone in cooperating and strengthening security ties between these countries. Despite historic tensions and current concerns over China and North Korea, leaders said they were working on a “bold diplomatic” approach to drive deeper engagement.