The US, Japan and South Korea are to launch a series of joint initiatives on technology and defense when the nations’ leaders gather at Camp David on Friday, according to senior US administration officials, amid mounting shared concerns about China.
While the summit is unlikely to produce a formal security arrangement that commits the nations to each others’ defense, they would agree to mutual understanding about regional responsibilities and set up a three-way hotline to communicate in times of crisis, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
US President Joe Biden invited Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to the storied presidential retreat in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains as the Asian nations work to mend their tattered diplomatic relations in the face of greater regional threats posed by China’s rise and North Korea.
Photo: Reuters
It would mark the first in what US officials hope to be an annual gathering between the three nations’ leaders.
South Korea and Japan held their first joint summit in 12 years in March and have made steps to ease tensions after years of disputes, including some related to Japan’s 1910 to 1945 occupation of Korea.
Washington has formal collective defense arrangements in place with Tokyo and Seoul separately, but it wants the two nations to work closer together given growing concerns about China’s mounting power.
“We are anticipating some steps that will bring us closer together in the security realm,” said one of the US officials, adding that doing so would “add to our collective security.”
However, the official said that “it’s too much to ask — it’s a bridge too far — to fully expect a three-way security framework among each of us. However, we are taking steps whereby each of the countries understand responsibilities with respect to regional security, and we are advancing new areas of coordination and ballistic missile defense, again technology, that will be perceived as very substantial.”
The summit is also expected to lead to a joint statement between the nations that includes some language speaking to concerns about China’s desire to change the status of Taiwan.
The US, Japanese and South Korean joint statement is set to include language on maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, one of the officials said.
The exact language on that and other provisions are expected to be negotiated up to the last minute, but the language currently under consideration would be consistent with prior US positions on the subject, avoiding a sharp escalation in rhetoric with Beijing as Washington has been seeking to ease tensions.
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
RSS