GIMHAE AIR BASE, South Korea. The United States concluded its first multi-domain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea on Saturday, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to strengthen and secure its Security partnerships with key Asian allies. in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China.
The three days of Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills aimed at improving joint ballistic missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities.
The exercise, which is expected to expand in coming years, was also aimed at improving the countries’ ability to share missile warnings, something increasingly important as North Korea tests increasingly sophisticated systems.
Outside of Australia, Japan and South Korea are the only US partners in the region with militaries sophisticated enough to integrate operations with the US so that if, for example, South Korea detected a target, could quickly relay details to the Japanese or Americans. their counterparts could respond, said Ridzwan Rahmat, a Singapore-based analyst at defense intelligence firm Janes.
“That’s the kind of interoperability that a typical war scenario entails,” Rahmat said. “For trilateral exercises like this, the intent is to develop interoperability between the three armed forces so they can better fight as a cohesive fighting force.”
These exercises also carry the risk of increasing tensions: China periodically denounces exercises in what it considers its sphere of influence and North Korea already criticizes the arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier Group in the port of Busan, home to South Korea’s navy headquarters and its Gimhae air base, in preparation for Freedom Edge, as “provocative” and “dangerous.”
On Wednesday, the day after South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the Roosevelt in Busan, becoming the first sitting South Korean president to board a US aircraft carrier since 1994, North Korea tested what he said was a missile with multiple warheads, the first known launch of the weapon under development, if confirmed.
South Korea’s military said a joint analysis by South Korean and U.S. authorities assessed that the North Korean missile launch failed.
Defense cooperation involving both Japan and South Korea is also politically complex for both Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida due to lingering resentment over Imperial Japan’s brutal occupation of Korea before and during the Second World War.
The two countries have the largest militaries among American allies in East Asia (and together host about 80,000 American troops in their territories), but the United States has tended to work with them individually rather than together because of their history.
Kishida’s increased defense spending and cooperation with South Korea have generally been well received by the Japanese public, but have caused friction with the right wing of his own party, while Yoon’s domestic appeal has waned. weakened, but he has stayed the course.
“South Korea’s shift under the Yoon administration toward improving its relations with Japan has been extremely significant,” said Heigo Sato, a professor of international politics and security expert at Tokyo’s Takushoku University.
Both leaders are seen as seeking to strengthen their defense relations with Washington ahead of the inauguration of a new president, and South Korean officials recently said they hope to sign a formal security framework agreement with the United States and Japan this year that would ensure a joint approach to respond to a possible North Korean attack.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has also long been working to increase cooperation between South Korea and Japan, something many did not believe was possible at the start of his presidency, said Euan Graham, a defense analyst at the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy.
“Credit where credit is due: the fact that this is happening is a significant achievement of the administration’s regional policy,” he said.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump caused friction with both allies during his term by demanding higher pay for hosting U.S. troops while holding one-on-one meetings with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Under Biden, Washington is seeking to solidify its alliance system, both with increasingly sophisticated exercises and diplomatic agreements, Graham said.
“It’s obviously an attempt by the United States to try to combine its alliances in the most positive way possible, not only given the challenge of its adversaries, but also the uncertainty around a second Trump administration,” he said. “They’re trying to institutionalize as many of these habits of cooperation as they can.”
Tensions with North Korea are at their highest point in years, with the The pace of Kim Jong Un’s weapons program intensifiesdespite strong international sanctions.
Meanwhile, China has been carrying out a massive military buildup of nuclear and conventional weapons, and now has the largest navy in the world. It claims both the autonomous island of Taiwan and virtually the entire South China Sea as its own territory, and has increasingly turned to its military to press those claims.
China and North Korea have also been among Russia’s closest allies in its war against Ukraine, while Russia and China are also key allies of North Korea, as well as Myanmar’s military leaders who seized power in 2021 and They face increasingly stiff resistance. in that country’s civil war.
This month, in Pyongyang, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim concluded a mutual defense pactagreeing to come to the aid of the other in case of attack, making others in the region tremble.
Despite a larger number of ships overall, China still has only three aircraft carriers compared to the U.S. fleet’s 11, arguably the most effective tool a country has for delivering large amounts of power a great distance from home.
China’s advantage, however, is that its main concern is the nearby Indo-Pacific waters, while Washington’s global focus means its naval assets are spread widely. Following exercises in the East China Sea with Japan and South Korea, the Roosevelt is due to sailing to the Middle East to help protect ships against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
This has made strong security alliances even more important, not only with Japan and South Korea but also with Australia, the Philippines, Taiwan and other countries in the region, and building those has been a priority for the Biden administration.
“One of the weaknesses of the Chinese navy, despite the number of hulls it has compared to the Americans, is the fact that it does not have a network of friendly ports from which to operate in case they need to launch a campaign” Rahmat said.
“One of the strengths of the US Navy is not only its ships and its technology, but its ability to visit a vast network of friendly ports, and realizing this strength, they are redoubling their efforts by increasing partnerships throughout the region”.
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AP writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this article from Tokyo.
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