Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
US seeks wider influence in East Asia with Indo-Pacific drive
Yoon Soon-gu, deputy minister for political affairs at Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with David R. Stilwell, the U.S. assistant secretary for East Asia and the Pacific, after holding talks on regional security, on the sidelines of this year's East Asia Summit in Bangkok, Saturday. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
By Lee Min-hyung
By Lee Min-hyung
The United States is seeking to widen its security influence in East Asia with the country's signature Indo-Pacific foreign policy, in a move to solidify American regional hegemony despite recent challenges from China.
After talks with South Korea's Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Yoon Soon-gu, David R. Stilwell, the U.S. assistant secretary for East Asia and the Pacific, reaffirmed Saturday the importance of realizing the drive for “regional peace and stability.”
“Both the Republic of Korea and the U.S. are strengthening and expanding cooperation to support people in the region to overcome diverse non-traditional security challenges,” the two said in a joint statement after talks in Thailand on the sidelines of this year's East Asia Summit.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy represents President Donald Trump's foreign policy in the region, where the Trump administration aims to tighten its influence to counter growing security threats from China, Russia and North Korea.
Above all, Washington is vying for regional hegemony against China at a time when they are in a full-scale trade war. Beijing is also showing no sign of taking any step back from the dispute, in a desperate bid not to lose the regional power struggle against the U.S.
To tackle the rapid rise of a China-led quasi-alliance, the U.S. is on track to further tighten security ties with traditional regional allies such as South Korea and Japan.
The outlook for the Washington-led trilateral alliance, however, remains unclear and is not as iron-clad as it used to be, considering the recent political feud between Seoul and Tokyo. The dispute started in October last year when Seoul's Supreme Court ordered Japanese companies to compensate South Koreans forced to work for them during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea.
With Japan expressing deep concerns over the ruling, bilateral relations have deteriorated to their lowest ebb in recent years.
Japan even imposed trade restrictions on South Korea, which then decided not to extend the two countries' military information-sharing pact, or the General Security of Military Information Agreement.
During the meeting with Stilwell, Yoon also called on the U.S. to “play its part” to help the two Asian allies resolve the dispute, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Yoon explained to Stilwell the South Korean government's ongoing diplomatic efforts to come up with a reasonable solution to the dispute and asked for the U.S.'s help in improving bilateral relations,” a ministry official said. “Toward this end, both sides reached a consensus on cooperation.”
The U.S., for its part, also expressed its willingness to support Seoul's New Southern Policy, which President Moon Jae-in proclaimed in 2017. Under the initiative, South Korea aims to enhance diplomatic ties with Southeast Asian nations for regional peace and more economic partnerships.
“Contributing to regional peace and stability is a shared goal of the Republic of Korea's New Southern Policy and the U.S.'s Indo-Pacific Strategy,” the joint statement said. “The peace pillar of the former and the security pillar of the latter reflect the importance attached to the goal.”
Despite the bilateral pledge, the Indo-Pacific drive comes in part as pressure while Seoul and Washington are in defense cost-sharing negotiations. Trump is continuing to intensify his political push against Seoul in a bid to shift more of the costs to South Korea.