AMERICA has no closer allies in Asia than Japan and South Korea, and no serious rival other than China. So it has vexed American officials that over the past three years its allies have barely been on speaking terms with each other. Indeed, on a number of issues South Korea has aligned itself with China in opposition to Japan and even America. At last, however, South Korea and Japan seem to be inching towards a rapprochement. At least one American worry in North-East Asia is easing. That is just as well: a bigger one, over North Korea’s nuclear-bomb programme, is as intractable as ever.
In a report published in September on the foreign policy of President Park Geun-hye, the Asan Institute, a think-tank in Seoul, criticised her for being “preoccupied with China at the cost of ignoring the United States”, which still has nearly 30,000 soldiers in South Korea. Like Britain and some other American allies, South Korea ignored American advice to shun China’s new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. It agreed in March to sign up as a founder member. And in September, Ms Park, alone among the leaders of America’s democratic allies, attended a military...Continue reading
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