North-South links firming in face of Chinese challenge

As matters stand, the West could be described as having further strengthened its defenses against what has come to be seen as the proliferation of China’s global influence and power. The proof of this is the consolidation of the US’ links with its principal Asian allies: Japan and South Korea.

Subsequent to meeting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Camp David, outside Washington, for further security cooperation talks recently, US President Joe Biden seemed to be jubilant as he said: “Our countries are stronger – and the world will be safer – as we stand together. I know that’s a belief that we all three share.’ He said that the trilateral summit would enable the three powers to ‘cooperate and renew our resolve to serve as a force of good across the Indo-Pacific and, quite frankly, around the world.’

How greatly strengthened security cooperation among the US, Japan and South Korea would translate into any exceptional ‘good’ for the South in particular is yet to be seen, but there is no doubt that the West, or North, could come to be perceived as more formidable by its challengers. This is in view of the multifaceted, substantive power wielded by Japan and South Korea in the Asian theatre as well as globally.

Japan’s pre-eminence as an Asian power hardly warrants fresh elaboration but South Korea’s rise as a military and political power calls for some focusing. Military power translates easily into political heft and today, South Korea’s unobtrusive rise to prominence in these respects cannot be lost sight of or glossed over. In fact, this columnist had occasion to elaborate on these developments in this space some months back.

The reality is that currently South Korea is a foremost global and Asian military power. In its vibrancy and formidableness South Korea’s armaments industry is second to none and this enables the country to take its place among those states that are seen as the world’s number one powers.

For example, South Korea is reportedly today a major exporter of military and defense equipment. In 2022, South Korea’s such exports were valued at $ 17.9 billion. It is believed to far exceed the corresponding figure for 2021. In fact, South Korea is currently figuring as a top arms exporter to both East and West.

This being the case, from the US viewpoint, a firmed-up, strategic tie between it and South Korea is an eminently recommendable proposition. Such an ally in China’s neighbourhood comes in most handy for the US, now that China is re-asserting its military presence in the South and East China seas in particular. Even as this is being written, China is being seen by Taiwan as threatening its territorial integrity by bolstering its military muscle in the breakaway republic’s immediate precincts.

Accordingly, the advisability, from its viewpoint, of the US strengthening its defense and strategic ties with its foremost Asian allies should only be expected. In fact, this alliance-strengthening exercise could be seen as a fresh frontier in what has come to be seen as the ‘New Cold War’.

From the Chinese viewpoint, a normalization of Japan-South Korea relations is a setback to its regional predominance. Hitherto, the strained ties between the latter states ensured for China that the historical rift between these its adversaries in the Far East would continually impede their efforts at launching joint opposition to its multidimensional rise as a regional power. This would no longer be possible in view of the fact that Japan and South Korea have opted for a normalization of ties under US facilitation.

If US efforts to bolster its economic and military ties with the ASEAN region prove successful in the days ahead, the US in particular and the West in general could be said to have tilted the global power balance in their favour. The strengthened security cooperation among the US, Japan and South Korea would have the effect of cementing this Westward tilt in the global balance of power.

Hitherto, the China-Russia alliance posed a formidable challenge to the power and influence of the West worldwide. But the recent mutiny within the Russian armed forces in the Ukraine theatre has visibly blunted Russian power and rendered the latter a veritable junior partner to China. Hence, the relative weakening of the East in the current East-West power struggle.

If the US intends the emerging global power configurations to aid the rest of the world, particularly the weakest members of the international community, it would need to ensure that the democratic system of government not only survives in the Southern hemisphere but flourishes in it as well.

The US has done well to ally very closely over the years, with formidable regional and global powers, such as Japan and South Korea, but it would need to go the extra mile to ensure that authoritarian, anti-democratic forces do not gain control over Southern states with weak democratic credentials. Two examples in this regard that come to mind in Asia are Afghanistan and Myanmar, while in the African continent, numerous are the states that need the international community’s financial and material resources to initiate sustained, equable development and thereby ensure the survival of democratic institutions.

Sustained support by the US for Japan and South Korea, particularly in the military field, could help to contain North Korea in the short and medium terms, since the latter is seen as a volatile state in East Asia, but in the long term it is through a process of constructive dialogue with China and Russia that the US could enable North Korea to be held in check and compelled to fall in line with International Law requirements. This is in view of North Korea’s perceived intransigence in the area of nuclear non-proliferation-linked issues.

Since China and Russia are on reasonably good terms with North Korea and are considered its allies in East Asia, the US is obliged to impress on the former states the need for them to use their good offices with Pyongyang, to make the latter see the need for sustained compliance with the tenets of International Law. The US would need to take these and many other related initiatives if the positive fallout from its security dialogue with Japan and South Korea is to be used constructively and for the ‘good’ of the many.