North Korea snubs US outreach
Pyongyang, Beijing top of agenda for Biden officials’ visit to allies in Asia
Threats from China and North Korea will loom large over the Biden Administration’s first Cabinet-level trip abroad, part of a larger effort to bolster United States influence and calm concerns about America’s role in Asia.
A senior Administration official said that US officials have tried to contact North Korea through multiple channels since last month, but have yet to receive a response. That makes consultations with the reclusive country’s neighbours, Japan, South Korea and China, all the more critical.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin are heading to Japan and South Korea for four days of talks starting today as the new Administration tries to shore up partnerships with the two key regional allies. Blinken and Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will meet Chinese officials in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.
The Cabinet members’ Asia trip is intended to restore what Biden hopes will be a calming and even-keeled approach to ties with Tokyo and Seoul after four years of transactional and often temperamental relations under former leader Donald Trump.
He had upended diplomatic norms by meeting not once, but three times, with North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un. Blinken and Austin also plan virtual meetings with journalists, civil-society members and others.
After reassuring their counterparts of US commitments to Japanese and South Korean security, they plan to focus on an increasingly assertive China, the nuclear challenge from North Korea and the coronavirus pandemic.
In his first months in office, Biden has signalled his desire to return the Asia-Pacific to the top of the US foreign policy agenda. In keeping with his broader “America is back” diplomatic theme, Biden has pledged to keep stability in the region at the core of his international initiatives.
Last week, Biden participated in a virtual summit with the leaders of India, Japan and Australia. “A free and open Indo-Pacific is essential,” Biden said. “The US is committed to working with you, our partners and all of our allies in the region to achieve stability.”
As part of that effort and “to reduce the risks of escalation,” the senior official said efforts had been made to connect with the North Koreans since mid-February, including through what is known as the “New York channel”. To date, the official said, “we have not received any response from Pyongyang”.
Meanwhile, US and South Korean negotiators have overcome years of contentious discussions under Trump to reach a tentative deal on paying for the American troop presence in South Korea. That agreement, with a similar one for Japan, will be front and centre in Blinken and Austin’s meetings.
As he had done with allies in Europe, Trump threatened to reduce security cooperation unless host countries paid more. That led to fears of troop withdrawals at a time of particular uncertainty as China boosts efforts to dominate the region and North Korea’s nuclear weapons remain a major source of angst.
“Diplomacy is back at the centre of our foreign policy, and we are working to strengthen America’s relationships with our allies as well as the relationships among them,” said Sung Kim, who is the top US diplomat for Asia. He served in the Philippines and Indonesia during the Trump Administration and was also previously the special envoy for North Korea.
For all of Biden’s suggestions that he will reverse Trump’s overt hostility to China, Biden has yet to countermand a single one of his predecessor’s policies. He has, in fact, reaffirmed several of them, including maintaining sanctions in response to human rights abuses in western Xinjiang and Hong Kong and restating a Trump-era decision to reject outright nearly all of China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea.
Many of China’s policies that the US finds objectionable — including its crackdown in Hong Kong, stepped up rhetoric against Taiwan and actions in the South China Sea — began during the Obama Administration. The previous Democratic Administration took office promising a “pivot to Asia” after a period of what many saw as American neglect for the region during George W. Bush’s presidency.
Although China is not on Blinken’s itinerary, after wrapping up the stop in Seoul, he will fly back to Washington via Anchorage, Alaska, where he and Sullivan will meet senior Chinese officials. Austin will go from Seoul to New Delhi for meetings with Indian leaders.