WASHINGTON (AP) – A new agreement with South Korea on sharing the cost of keeping American troops on the Korean Peninsula is one of the first pieces of evidence that President Joe Biden is changing the United States’ approach to alliances in Asia and beyond. This shows that he will give the allies a break to build unity in the competition against China and Russia.
President Donald Trump has demanded that South Korea pay billions more to keep American troops in its territory. In his opinion, the United States was being robbed by what he suggested to be profiteers disguised as allies. Trump initially insisted that the South Korean government pay five times more than before. Seoul stalled, diplomacy came to nothing and relations with a treaty ally began to erode.
Biden, on the other hand, agreed to a 13.9% increase and subsequent increases that put the issue aside.
Biden’s view is that well-functioning alliances are critical to competing with China, which his government sees as the United States’ longest-running security challenge, along with Russia. Biden’s promise to focus more on Asia reflects the commitments of the two previous governments – with both of them having their plans thwarted by persistent turmoil in the Middle East. In a sign that Biden could face similar obstacles, his first known military attack was against extremist targets in Syria.
In what the White House called a sign of Biden’s commitment to the partnership in the Asia-Pacific region, on Friday he will meet virtually the leaders of three other regional powers – India, Australia and Japan. Biden will also send the secretary from Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Japan and South Korea next week for security consultations; on the way home, Blinken will join Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, for talks with Chinese officials in Alaska.
A few days before the election last November, candidate Biden foreshadowed his intentions for Seoul in an opinion article he wrote for the South Korean news agency Yonhap. He praised the role of the South Koreans in an alliance “forged in the blood” and emphatically promised a new approach to Seoul if he wanted to win.
“Words matter – and a president’s words matter even more,” wrote Biden. “As president, I will be with South Korea, strengthening our alliance to safeguard peace in East Asia and beyond, rather than extorting Seoul with reckless threats to remove our troops.” He promised “principled diplomacy”.
He may also have mentioned quick diplomacy. Last weekend, North American and South Korean negotiators reached an agreement that, if ratified by the South Korean national assembly, would end an impasse on the Seoul portion of the cost of keeping approximately 28,500 American troops on the Korean peninsula. The troops serve as a symbol of the US commitment to a defense treaty born in the 1950-53 Korean War.
The new cost-sharing agreement comes after a one-year interim agreement by the Trump administration in March 2019, which required Seoul to pay about 1 trillion Korean won, the equivalent of approximately $ 910 million. Trump then demanded a five-fold increase from 2020. The South Korean government refused.
Biden took office in January with what he apparently saw as a chance to end acrimony, and the State Department negotiating team quickly concluded a multi-year deal that requires a 13.9% increase in Seoul payments this year, followed by four years of increases linked to increases in its defense budget.
“This government is trying to say that alliances are important to us,” said Bruce Bennett, an Asia expert at RAND Corp., adding that this goes beyond South Korea to include other traditional Asian allies, such as Japan. de Biden “know that they have a substantial problem when trying to deal with the Chinese threat. Therefore, making your relationship closer with the allies is a fundamental part of the strategy to do this. “
Japan and South Korea for decades have been the cornerstones of the US defense strategy in the broader Asia-Pacific region, which the top US commander, Admiral Philip Davidson, has called “the region of greatest consequence for the future of America”. Last month, the US and Japan agreed to a one-year extension to their cost-sharing agreement for the presence of US troops; the State Department said it gives more time to negotiate a longer deal.
Part of the backdrop for the swift deal with Seoul is Biden’s focus on China’s military modernization, his ambitions to be a global power and his potential to help contain North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
“There is a widely held opinion in the Biden government that the United States must deal with China from a position of strength, which requires strengthening our alliances, as well as renewing our own country,” said Bonnie S. Glaser , director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Trump was not the first president to pressure allies to pay more for the cost of hosting American forces. The difference was that Trump took an uncompromising approach – some would say insulting – to European and Asian allies who were at odds with his Pentagon chiefs, starting with Jim Mattis, who highly valued cooperation in alliances. That difference was one of the main reasons why Mattis resigned in December 2018.
In addition to trying to get more money out of Seoul, Trump questioned the need for U.S. military exercises with South Korea, considering them a waste and an affront to North Korea.
Jonathan D. Pollack, an East Asia policy expert at the Brookings Institution, said it is no surprise that Biden will move quickly to make a cost-sharing deal with Seoul and ease the tensions of the Trump administration.
“If the government is serious, as I think it is, about trying to restore some normality in alliance relations, this is a very good way to do that,” said Pollack. He thinks that this also applies to Europe, where the United States’ relations with NATO allies have been strained by Trump’s demands on the division of the defense burden.
“I think it is indicative of the way I expect Biden to proceed on other fronts as well in terms of improving the alliance,” he said.