US official Kurt Campbell says recent Camp David summit shows Washington, Seoul and Tokyo driven ‘to protect themselves’ by a rising regional anxiety and instability
America’s network of alliances is critical to maintaining our role as the Asia–Pacific’s indispensable, pre-dominant power. Seemingly, all sides of the debate over U.S. Asia policy converge on this key point, and, to its credit, the Administration has logged its fair share of frequent flyer miles and speech text underscoring it. But what is the network’s purpose?
Slowly we are stitching our way across Asia on Donald J. Trump’s great five-nation oriental hegira. After a punishing 2:00 a.m. departure from Yokota Air Force Base outside Tokyo, we arrived this morning at Osan Air Base outside of Seoul, a reminder of the network of massive military bases the U.S. maintains in northeast Asia. Like Japan, the Republic of Korea is a treaty ally
President Joe Biden’s failure to personally contact any Southeast Asian leader since taking office in January 2021 has not won the United States any favors in the region.