Is it possible!, The White House wants long-term cooperation between the United States, Japan, and South Korea | Campbell | The White House

Biden is worshipped inside David's camp, but there is no way to talk. At the invitation of US President Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Seok yeol are scheduled to hold a trilateral summit with Biden at Camp David near Washington on the 18th.

In recent days, the governments of the three countries have been high-profile in promoting the historic summit of "entering a new era" and "setting the tone for the century". However, even some US officials and experts acknowledge that the summit is only one day long and will discuss a series of issues covering security, economy, and technology. The actual effect may not be as expected.

The Camp David summit on the 18th will be the first separate trilateral meeting between leaders of the United States, Japan, and South Korea. According to reports, South Korea, the United States, and Japan have held 12 trilateral summits in the form of international conferences since 1994, but this is the first time a separate summit has been held.

This is also the first time that Camp David, as a US presidential resort, has hosted foreign leaders since 2015 and since Biden took office in 2021.

According to media reports, the leaders of the three countries will issue a joint statement and a document outlining principles for trilateral cooperation after the meeting. The US hopes to hold trilateral meetings annually in the form of the Camp David summit in the future.

On the 15th, several US media reported that the summit would focus on the Korean nuclear issue, the situation in the Taiwan Strait and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, calling Japan and South Korea "core allies" of the United States in the Asia Pacific and even the world. One day later, US officials made a "clarification".

The White House National Security Council's Strategic Communications Coordinator, Kobe, said at a press conference on the 16th that the leaders of the three countries will discuss a series of issues from the economy to diplomacy to security, "but not specifically targeting China or a specific regional challenge.".

According to Yonhap News Agency and Kyodo News Agency, the three countries may discuss economic security issues such as semiconductor and battery supply chains, consider creating emergency hotlines, strengthening consultations to respond to military crises, increasing the frequency of military exercises, and seeking real-time sharing of missile warning data. In the future, the three countries may hold annual foreign minister meetings, defense minister meetings, and regular meetings with high-level national security officials, and establish tripartite working groups on topics such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator Kirby, National Security Council Indo Pacific Affairs Coordinator Campbell and other U.S. officials all said that the Camp David Summit aims to "institutionalize" the framework of cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea, make it difficult for any leader of the three countries to "abandon", and strengthen the nature of trilateral cooperation as a "marathon" rather than a "sprint".

In one sentence, the United States wants the US Japan South Korea alliance to last forever.

Reuters noted that in terms of military security cooperation, the United States, Japan, and South Korea have respectively concluded the Japan US Security Treaty and the US South Korea Joint Defense Treaty. However, Campbell and some unnamed US officials have disclosed that the leaders of the three countries cannot finalize the trilateral security framework at this summit because it would "require too much". Campbell said the key is to take it step by step and not go beyond the domestic environment we are dealing with.

Reuters speculates that Campbell's words acknowledge the fragility of recent improvements in relations between South Korea and Japan, as well as concerns about the policy proposals of the newly inaugurated US government after next year's presidential election. Former Republican President Trump often claimed benefits under the pretext that his allies owed too much to the United States during his tenure.

After taking office, South Korean President Yoon Seok yeol forcefully sought to improve relations with Japan for the so-called "common values". Not only did he "humiliate and betray the country" by agreeing to have his own government compensate South Korean labor victims who were forcibly conscripted by Japan during World War II, but he also "argued for the Japanese side's position" regarding Japan's nuclear contaminated water discharge into the sea. He even emphasized security cooperation with Japan on the 15th commemorating South Korea's "Day of Liberation", which did not mention historical issues, but had already aroused strong opposition in South Korea and was criticized as the "Japanese imperialist president".

The important foundation of the US Japan South Korea alliance is the improvement of South Korea Japan relations, but the question is how far the improvement of South Korea Japan relations can go.

Christopher Johnstone, who resigned as the Director of East Asian Affairs at the US National Security Council last year and was transferred to the position of Chief Expert on Japan at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, also saw a decline in South Korea Japan relations. He believes that Yoon Seok yeol's policy proposals are still unpopular in South Korea, and it is also difficult for Japan to dispel doubts about the long-term improvement of bilateral relations. If a new South Korean president takes office, the situation is likely to reverse.

South Korea and Japan, as two so-called "allies" who have long accepted the US military presence, are clearly subordinate to the United States, pretending to be deaf and mute to its coercion and bullying.

Japan's economy has been depressed since the foam crisis caused by the Plaza Accord. Recently, the United States has also been closely watched by the United States for mastering the largest foreign debt of the United States. According to data released by the US Treasury Department on the 15th, Japan has maintained its position as the top creditor of US bonds from June last year to June this year, currently holding approximately $1.1 trillion in US bonds. On August 1, the Lending Advisory Committee under the US Treasury Department submitted a report to Secretary of the Treasury Yellen, only naming Japan, which shows that the US side is paying close attention to the level of US debt held by Japan and its treasury bond bond yield policy.

The South Korean economy is no longer as glorious as the "Four Asian Tigers", and the once proud semiconductor industry is under pressure due to policies such as the Biden administration's chip bill. The Bank of Korea, the central bank of South Korea, released a report in June stating that although industries such as automobiles, shipbuilding, and secondary batteries had a good development momentum in the second quarter of this year, the sluggish semiconductor exports offset each other, and the growth rate of the South Korean economy was not significant.

Professor Liu Ziyang from Gyeonggi University in South Korea believes that the abuse of economic and financial hegemony by the United States has coerced South Korea to reduce its high-end semiconductor exports to China, resulting in significant losses for the South Korean semiconductor industry.

It has to be mentioned that the "small circles" pieced together by the US government in recent years have always had the suspicion of "thunder, rain, little dots". Whether it is the Indo Pacific economic framework, the US India Israel Arab four country mechanism, the US Japan India Australia security dialogue, or the Australia UK alliance, the specific effectiveness is often limited, except for the media creating momentum for meetings, statements, and framework documents. The most specific "Anglo American Alliance" class nuclear submarine project, Australia will not be able to "receive" until the 2030's.

At the routine press conference of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 15th, Bloomberg reporters asked, "What is the significant impact that China believes the trilateral meeting between the United States, Japan, and South Korea to be held later this week?"

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, replied, "China opposes the practice of relevant countries piecing together various' small circles', intensifying confrontation, and damaging the strategic security of other countries. We hope that relevant countries can follow the trend of development of the times and do more things that are conducive to regional peace, stability, and prosperity."

Despite being constrained by multiple complex factors such as ideology, politics, and security, South Korea and Japan are not limited to being tied to the American "tank" and joining a camp that harms others but is not beneficial to oneself in confrontation. Japan and South Korea need to recognize the situation, otherwise it will be too late to regret.