South Korea holds the key to the Indo-Pacific

[soryang]

South Korea holds the key to the Indo-Pacific The Hill
RAMON PACHECO PARDO, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 08/18/19 09:00 AM EDT

The U.S. is putting all its diplomatic muscle behind a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). Australia and Japan are fully behind Washington. India lends its support, at least in theory. These countries — the Quad — cannot successfully make FOIP the epicenter of how Asian geopolitics are defined, though. They need to convince other countries in the region of its merits. The success of the FOIP initiative needs, above all, the clear and unambiguous backing of South Korea.

It seems obvious that South Korea eventually will join, or at least formally endorse, FOIP. After all, South Korea is free and open — with the most successful democracy in Asia, a robust free-market economy, and strong rule of law. South Korea has a decades-old alliance with the U.S., and South Korean public opinion retains favorable views of the U.S.

Why, then, is Seoul reluctant to join FOIP? Despite U.S. lobbying, including by President Trump, the Moon government has neither supported nor rejected FOIP. The South Korean government even appears reluctant to use the term “Indo-Pacific.” At the recent Shangri-La Dialogue, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo used every possible term to refer to the Asia-Pacific region except the one Washignton now favors.

More: https://thehill.com/opinion/international/457542-south-korea-holds-the-key-to-the-indo-pacific

Good analysis. Definitely worth reading. The only thing I would add is although South Korea is not an island and is a part of the Asian land mass, the separation caused by the Korean conflict in effect reduces it to a de facto island with direct ground transportation links to the mainland completely cut off. It is questionable whether any other state or major power in the area would like to see those links restored, inasmuch, as the states other than South Korea fear a loss of their own relative power, status and influence in the region as a result.

[FM123]

1. Good article.

"The Trump administration’s behavior is another reason its efforts to convince South Korea to join FOIP have fallen flat."