Joe Biden on Friday hosted the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David, near Washington, for a summit he called “historic”, meant to send a strong message of unity against China.
“We wrote a page of history today with this first summit and by making the commitment to meet, at this level, every year”, said the American president, alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for a press conference.
The three men appeared in front of the press without ties, under the trees, a touch of relaxation contrasting with the seriousness of their remarks.
Joe Biden thus announced that the three countries would consult each other systematically and “quickly” in the future in the face of “threats” aimed at them.
He repeatedly praised the “political courage” of his guests, who worked to bring their two countries closer together despite the painful past of the colonization of South Korea by Japan.
The American president had deliberately chosen to welcome them to Camp David, a country residence for presidents near Washington, whose name is closely linked to the history of peace negotiations in the Middle East.
Also emphasizing the symbolism of the place, Yoon Suk Yeol considered that the meeting opened a “new chapter” in relations between the three countries, while Fumio Kishida spoke of their “determination to open a new era”.
In a joint statement released on Friday, the United States, Japan and South Korea condemned China’s “dangerous and aggressive behavior” and “illegal maritime claims” amid tensions between Beijing and the Philippines over the a disputed atoll.
In this joint text, dubbed “The Spirit of Camp David”, they add: “We reaffirm the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
“This summit was not devoted to China”, assured Joe Biden but he recognized that “China (had) obviously been a subject”, Friday at Camp David.
The American president, who recently called the second world power a “ticking time bomb” in reference to its economic and demographic situation, nevertheless assures that he still hopes to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping “this fall.”
From Camp David, the United States, South Korea and Japan have also called once again for North Korea to “abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”
The three countries will set up a program of joint military exercises over several years.
But according to the main security adviser of the White House, Jake Sullivan, this reinforced cooperation is “not a NATO for the Pacific”.
Washington, Tokyo and Seoul also intend to cooperate in economic matters, for example via an alert mechanism supposed to signal the risks of shortage of certain products or raw materials.
Beijing does not hide its hostility to this three-way dialogue.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, for example, recently warned Seoul and Tokyo: “You can blond your hair or have your nose refined as much as you want, you will never be Europeans or Westerners (…). We must know where our roots are”.
He called on China, South Korea and Japan to “work together”.
Washington is instead betting that Japan and South Korea are willing to look to the West, and to each other, despite the scars left by Japan’s brutal colonization of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.
The rapprochement is not unanimous in public opinion, whether Korean or Japanese.
The challenge for Washington will therefore be to make the trilateral relationship last beyond the changes of leaders.
“We are not talking about a day, a week or a month. It is about decades” of cooperation, wanted to believe Joe Biden on Friday.
08/18/2023 23:10:26 – Camp David (United States) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
