New US strategy urges allies to boost defense spending, omits NK denuclearization

U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington D.C., Wednesday. UPI-Yonhap

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has released its new National Security Strategy (NSS), reaffirming his America First policy principles, and calling for South Korea and other allies to increase defense spending and contribute "far more" to "collective defense."

On Thursday, the White House unveiled the 33-page document outlining the administration's stance on foreign policy, defense and economic security, reiterating Washington's calls for allies and partners to undertake greater security burdens and stressing that "the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over."

The document also describes preventing a conflict over Taiwan — a self-governing democracy that China regards as part of its territory — as a "priority," while vowing to enforce a "Trump Corollary" to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, a U.S. foreign policy symbolic of isolationism, to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.

Unlike past versions, the latest NSS does not mention North Korea, nor does it include the U.S.' commitment to the denuclearization of the recalcitrant regime -- a development that has raised concerns that the security issue surrounding Pyongyang could be pushed onto the back burner.

"From military alliances to trade relations and beyond, the United States will insist on being treated fairly by other countries," it reads.

"We will no longer tolerate, and can no longer afford, free-riding, trade imbalances, predatory economic practices, and other impositions on our nation's historic goodwill that disadvantage our interests."

It also says that the Trump administration expects allies to spend "far more" of their gross domestic product (GDP) on their own defense to "start to make up for the enormous imbalances accrued over decades of much greater spending by the U.S."

South Korea has already committed to raising its defense spending to 3.5 percent of its GDP, drawing praise from U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, who hailed South Korea as the first treaty ally outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to make that spending commitment.

Despite its new focus on the Western Hemisphere, the document underlines the U.S. commitment to working with allies to safeguard the First Island Chain — an island string linking Japan, Taiwan and the northern Philippines, which is seen as a perimeter crucial for the U.S. to maintain its maritime preeminence in the Pacific against China.

"We will build a military capable of denying aggression anywhere in the First Island Chain. But the American military cannot, and should not have to, do this alone. Our allies must step up and spend -- and more importantly do — much more for collective defense," it says.

"America's diplomatic efforts should focus on pressing our First Island Chain allies and partners to allow the U.S. military greater access to their ports and other facilities, to spend more on their own defense, and most importantly to invest in capabilities aimed at deterring aggression."

Moreover, it calls for Seoul and Tokyo to secure capabilities to help defend the first island chain, language that apparently underscores the U.S.' desire to see the core Asian allies contribute to keeping China in check.

"Given President Trump's insistence on increased burden-sharing from Japan and South Korea, we must urge these countries to increase defense spending, with a focus on the capabilities -- including new capabilities -- necessary to deter adversaries and protect the First Island Chain," it says.

"We will also harden and strengthen our military presence in the Western Pacific, while in our dealings with Taiwan and Australia we maintain our determined rhetoric on increased defense spending."

The latest NSS does not mention North Korea or its nuclear quandary, despite growing concerns over its advancing nuclear and missile threats.

Released during the first Trump administration, the 2017 NSS said that the U.S. would work with allies and partners to achieve "complete, verifiable and irreversible" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The 2022 version under the preceding Biden administration also stated that the U.S. would seek to make progress toward the denuclearization of the peninsula.

On Taiwan, the document underlines that defending the island is a U.S. security priority in the Indo-Pacific.

It also says that the Trump administration will maintain America's longstanding declaratory policy on Taiwan, which means the U.S. does not support any "unilateral change to the status quo" in the Taiwan Strait.

In a thinly veiled message against China, the document calls for ending "predatory," state-directed subsidies and industrial strategies, unfair trading practices, intellectual property theft, and industrial espionage and threats that risk U.S. access to critical resources, including minerals and rare earth elements.

It also says that the U.S. must "encourage South Korea, Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, Mexico and other countries to adopt trade policies that help rebalance China's economy toward household consumption."

"Because Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, cannot alone absorb China's enormous excess capacity," it says. "The exporting nations of Europe and Asia can also look to middle-income countries as a limited but growing market for their exports."

As it highlights the Trump administration's push to "reassert" the Monroe Doctrine, the document apparently signals that the U.S. would put a greater strategic priority on the Western Hemisphere while seeking to maintain its leading position in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere.

"We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere," it says, apparently referring to China and other potential rivals.

"This 'Trump Corollary' to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests."