“‘First, it’s explicitly not a NATO for the Pacific. We’ve said that, we will continue to underscore that, and so will both Japan and Korea. Second, we’ve had a combined 150 years of alliance cooperation with Japan and Korea, so in that sense, the work that we are doing with these two countries is not new. What is new, is that we are now stitching all of that work together to try to enhance regional stability and security.’”
That line above came Friday at Camp David from Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, as he responded at a press briefing to how China has criticized the new security agreements between the U.S., Japan and South Korea that the three countries are rolling out.
The initiatives include a “duty to consult” commitment for regional threats and a state-of-the-art hotline for moments of crisis. There is expected to be greater cooperation in areas such as ballistic-missile defense, military intelligence and supply chains, as the Biden administration strengthens links with Japan and the Republic of Korea to achieve a more united front against China and North Korea.
Related: Biden meeting Friday at Camp David with Japan’s Kishida and South Korea’s Yoon invites Pyongyang ire
“We’re opening a new era, and we’re making sure that era has staying power, so that means regularizing meetings between our leaders and our senior officials on an annual basis to discuss the broad agenda of security technology, regional strategy, economic partnership and more,” Sullivan also said during his press briefing.
When asked how the agreements will continue when the three nations end up with different leaders, the U.S. national security adviser said: “Every leader is going to have to make decisions, but the architecture, the framework, the structure that’s being put in place now, from our perspective, has a tail wind behind it that will propel it forward and be very difficult to knock off course.”
The setting for Friday’s summit has been the backdrop for other U.S. diplomatic achievements, such as 1978’s Camp David Accords which helped bring about a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
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