While last week’s summit of U.S., South Korean and Japanese leaders may have been historic, the three countries hope “to really institutionalize trilateral cooperation going forward” through joint diplomatic and security initiatives that present “a stronger, united front” in the Indo-Pacific, says USIP's Mirna Galic.
U.S. Institute of Peace experts discuss the latest foreign policy issues from around the world in On Peace, a brief weekly collaboration with SiriusXM's POTUS Channel 124.
Transcript
Alice Stewart: The big news over the weekend without a doubt, or Friday and over the weekend was President Biden and the all-important summit that he held with, historic summit, with leaders of South Korea and Japan. And this was monumental and the imagery from Camp David was truly historic. And so that makes my next guest even more important to talk about this important summit, Mirna Galic, China and East Asia Senior Analyst for the United States Institute of Peace is joining me. Mirna thank you so much for joining me.
Mirna Galic: Thanks for having me, Alice.
Alice Stewart: I'm glad you could join me on the day where, you know, this summit was so critical. We had President Joe Biden on Friday signing historic agreements with the leaders of South Korea and Japan and what this really did bridging the fraught history between the two countries. And there were promises of strengthening each nation's economic and national security interests. Mirna, why was that so critically important?
Mirna Galic: Well, this really was a very historic summit and if you look at the White House's announcements about the summit, they call the sort of statement that came out of it the spirit of Camp David, which is again, a very sort of, you know, beautiful language, and quite sort of cognizant of the very kind of historical nature of this. And I think what you're seeing with the summit is a really great example of a phenomenon that we're also seeing a lot more of in the Indo Pacific generally, which is increasing ties between the individual spokes of the US alliance system of hubs and spokes in the region. So, this is a great example of how those individual folks like Japan and Korea are increasingly doing more and more together and creating kind of a mesh between those hubs and spokes.
Alice Stewart: And what kind of message is this sending to China?
Mirna Galic: Well, I think there's a lot of messages that are being sent here to the region as a whole, I think you're seeing a feeling of real power and potential that these countries are seeing working together as strong economies, strong militaries, and democracies with shared values to kind of coordinate for better outcomes in general, for regional partners and regional stability. So, you know, there are messages that are directed here to ASEAN partners, to Pacific Island nations, to North Korea, and also to China. And what these messages are saying is that these countries are going to be working together, that they're kind of indivisible in many ways, and that they are presenting a stronger united front, with stronger deterrence and stronger coordination with one another.
Alice Stewart: And, again, the imagery of being there with the backdrop of Camp David and seeing foreign leaders who are not our allies. What does that say to them, the unity of the United States, South Korea, and Japan?
Mirna Galic: So, it's very important because South Korea and Japan are very significant nations in East Asia visa vie, North Korea and China and also in the region as a whole as large sort of capable capacity building nations for ASEAN and other partners, and also funding nations for these countries, to these developing countries in the region. So the idea of them sort of getting together and ensuring that their efforts are coordinated, rather than piecemeal, and that they're building on the respective advantages of these three partners is very important, because that tells the region, we're united, we're going to be focusing on the region, we're going to be working together to ensure stability, to ensure the continuation of the rules based international order, to ensure that countries in the region are seeing the benefits of globalization and other things. So, I think it's a very strong message.
Alice Stewart: And I want to ask you this, my guest Mirna Galic with the United States Institute of Peace and your organization is a nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress was really dedicated to a world without violent conflict and trying to seek that. How is that important in that it's a nonpartisan issue, this isn't Republican or Democrats and to seek peace across the world, we need to work together Republicans and Democrats.
Mirna Galic: Absolutely, yes. I mean, you know, USIP is dedicated to peace everywhere around the world and it is as you say, exactly a nonpartisan issue. It, you know, the United States as a whole benefits from peace and stability around the world, and this is not something that is just for Republicans or just for Democrats, this is a united U.S. posture and USIP is really committed to working on this. And with this summit, you really do see, again, this sort of push from the United States and from partners in this region for peace and stability. You have what I think is one of the most kind of interesting outcomes of the summit is to sort of have this attempt from the United States to really build on the upswing, and Japan Korea relations, to really institutionalize trilateral cooperation going forward and this will again, in theory, help increase stability in the region. So, they've announced a number of things, including annual meetings at the leader and minister level, joint military exercises in various domains, which send a strong deterrent signal to North Korea especially, but in some ways, also to China. They've got mechanisms for real time exchange of missile data and an annual dialogue on the Indo-Pacific and this, again, comes to the point that we just talked about earlier, which is the sort of benefits that these countries want to ensure that Indo-Pacific partners see from their cooperation.
Alice Stewart: Well, and that's so critical, keeping an eye on the threats imposed by North Korea and China. The White House made sure to say that this summit and these conversations, and the agreements would be long term. And he stressed that the agreements would remain in place, even if Donald Trump were to return to the White House. So how important is that assurance?
Mirna Galic: It's very important, I think partners in the region want to know that the U.S. values its alliances, regardless of who is sitting in the presidential chair. But I think, again, this institutionalization effort is also useful for Japan and South Korea, because, you know, they've had a lot of tensions in the relationship until very recently. And, you know, in terms of domestic publics, the Korean public is still sort of split on whether better relations with Japan are positive. So, trying to sort of institutionalize regular meetings, and de politicize them and make them less of like a big event like this one was, I think, helps sort of insulate these relationships and these continued meetings from the sort of politicization that is possible with both a U.S. president who's not as helpful and changes maybe in the domestic relationships within Japan and Korea.
Alice Stewart: Well, and I think that, you know, to your point, it's so important for internationally people to understand this agreement and these issues that they have agreed on, will last this administration, and certainly wants to follow in that stability, I'm sure, as you well know, is critical for these types of talks. Thank you so much for joining me, Mirna Galic, China and East Asia, Senior Analyst for the United States Institute of Peace doing such wonderful work in a nonpartisan way to implement peace across the globe. Mirna thank you so much for joining me.
Mirna Galic: Thanks for having me, Alice.