US, Japan, South Korea’s Camp David meeting exudes Cold War chill
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 19th
Xinhua News Agency reporter Xie Binbin
The high temperature in midsummer has not yet receded, and the atmosphere of the Cold War emanating from Camp David, the resort of the US president, has chilled the world. On the 18th local time, the leaders of the United States, Japan, and South Korea met here, declaring that they would strengthen cooperation among the three countries in military and other fields, and deliberately spread lies about the so-called “China threat”. Under the leadership of the United States, the three countries have their own ideas and use each other to build a closed and exclusive geopolitical “small circle” under the banner of “maintaining security”. The purpose is to intensify confrontation, damage regional strategic security, and endanger peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific.
The United States wins over Japan and South Korea and engages in so-called security cooperation, which is actually disregarding the security of the two countries and pushing the two countries into a dangerous situation. Facts have proved time and again that wherever the strategic focus of the United States is placed, there will be no peace. Selling security anxiety, inciting confrontation, and creating conflicts and turmoil. Looking at the situation created by the United States in the Middle East and Europe through this model, and looking at what the United States is doing in the Asia-Pacific, it is not difficult to deduce the intentions of the United States. The talk of “maintaining security” is just a means for the United States to manipulate the psychology of certain countries by selling security anxiety. This kind of dangerous thinking that targets other countries and damages their strategic security will not bring a real “sense of security” to Japan and South Korea. On the contrary, it will increase regional security risks and create regional tensions. Japan and South Korea will eventually suffer. Whether it is the tense situation on the Korean peninsula or the absurd so-called “China threat theory”, in fact, it is inseparable from the clamor and provocation of the United States. The real threat to regional security is actually the United States. The Hankyoreh Daily warned that if South Korea gets involved in the “new cold war” instigated by the United States, the security risks around the peninsula will increase significantly, and South Korea’s security situation will become more unstable.
The reason why the United States forms gangs in the Asia-Pacific region and deeply binds regional countries to its so-called “Indo-Pacific strategy” chariot is to maintain US hegemony. In recent years, the United States has peddled the “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework” in the Asia-Pacific region, strengthened the “Five Eyes Alliance”, concocted a patchwork of “four-party mechanism” and trilateral security partnerships, manipulated NATO to intervene in the Asia-Pacific region, and forced countries in the region to choose sides. The United States, Japan, and the United States and South Korea have already established bilateral alliances, but the United States still insists on building a “small circle” with Japan and South Korea, and touts the status of Japan and South Korea as “core allies”. Akiaki Saizono, a visiting professor at the International University of East Japan, pointed out that the United States intends to link Japan and South Korea to form the so-called “Northeast Asian Alliance”, which will intensify the confrontation between Japan and South Korea and other Asian countries, and enjoy the benefits of the fisherman. Japan and South Korea are just pawns for the United States to maintain its hegemony in Asia.
The Asia-Pacific is a highland of development and a hotbed of cooperation, not a geopolitical arena. People in the Asia-Pacific region still remember conflicts and confrontations led by hegemony. Asia-Pacific countries are generally unwilling to choose sides. The mainstream voice in the region is harmonious coexistence and win-win cooperation. Countries in the region welcome efforts to “make things happen” together, but do not welcome attempts to “make troubles”. The “Indo-Pacific Strategy” pushed by the United States will destroy the effective regional cooperation framework in the region and undermine the momentum of peaceful development created by the joint efforts of countries in the region for decades. Moving with the trend and turning back the wheel of history is unpopular and doomed to fail. Chen Shuling, Director of Strategic Communication and Research at the Gentara Institute in Indonesia, pointed out that instability is the last thing to happen in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States‘ practice of collating various military groups has caused concern in many countries in the region. Anna Malenberg-Uy, deputy director of the Philippine “Asian Century” Strategic Research Institute, said that ASEAN countries refuse to choose sides, and the “Indo-Pacific strategy” is difficult to gain recognition in Southeast Asia.
State-to-state exchanges should help enhance understanding and trust and help maintain peace and stability. I advise the US to give up its attempt to disrupt the Asia-Pacific, and Japan and South Korea not to act as pawns for US hegemony and not to stand on the opposite side of most countries in the region and on the wrong side of history.