The US, Japan and South Korea were to sign a new security pledge, committing the three countries to consult with each other in the event of a security crisis or threat in the Pacific, officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden said on Thursday.
Details about the new “duty to consult” commitment emerged as Biden prepared to welcome South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a summit at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland yesterday.
The move is one of several joint efforts that the leaders were expected to announce at the day-long summit.
Photo: AFP
Kishida, before departing Tokyo on Thursday, told reporters that the summit would be a “historic occasion to bolster trilateral strategic cooperation” with Seoul and Washington.
“I believe it is extremely meaningful to hold a Japan-US-South Korea summit where leaders of the three countries gather just as the security environment surrounding Japan is increasingly severe,” he said.
The “duty to consult” pledge is intended to acknowledge that the three countries share “fundamentally interlinked security environments” and that a threat to one of the nations is “a threat to all,” a senior Biden administration official said.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the coming announcement.
Under the pledge, the three countries agree to consult, share information and align their messaging with each other in the face of a threat or crisis, the official said.
The commitment does not infringe on each country’s right to defend itself under international law, nor does it alter existing bilateral treaty commitments between the US and Japan, and the US and South Korea, the official said.
The US has more than 80,000 troops based in the two countries combined.
South Korea and Japan have been divided by differing views of World War II history and Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
However, they have begun a rapprochement as their leaders grapple with shared security challenges posed by North Korea and China.
Yoon in March proposed an initiative to resolve disputes stemming from compensation for wartime Korean forced laborers.
South Korea would use its own funds to compensate Koreans enslaved by Japanese companies before the end of World War II, he said.
Kishida during a visit to Seoul in May expressed sympathy for the suffering of Korean forced laborers during Japan’s colonial rule.,
The leaders are also expected to detail in their summit communique plans to invest in technology for a three-way crisis hotline and offer an update on progress the countries have made on sharing early-warning data on missile launches by North Korea.
Other announcements expected to come out of the summit include plans to expand military cooperation on ballistic defenses and make the summit an annual event.
US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said that Washington is in part looking to counter what he called Beijing’s bullying tactics and its confidence that the US cannot get its two most important Pacific allies — Japan and South Korea — to get along.
“Our message is we’re a permanent Pacific power and presence, and you can bet long on America,” Emanuel said at a Brookings Institution event focused on the summit. “China’s message: ‘We’re the rising power, they’re declining. Either get in line or you’re gonna get the Philippine treatment.’”
Earlier this month, the Philippine government summoned China’s ambassador and presented a diplomatic protest over the Chinese Coast Guard’s use of water cannons in a confrontation with Philippine vessels in the South China Sea.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS