The United States intends to continue strengthening its ability to ensure the nuclear security of Japan and South Korea.
This statement was made by National Security Assistant Jake Sullivan at a conference organized by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Our recently released Nuclear Posture Review highlights that we share our allies’ concern that security developments in East Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region necessitate a strengthened U.S. extended deterrence,” he said. .
Washington is actively working with Tokyo and Seoul to develop an "effective set of real measures" and concrete steps to strengthen its expanded strategic deterrence commitments, Sullivan said.
“This includes a more visible presence of US strategic capabilities in the region,” said an adviser to Joe Biden.
He declined to clarify what exactly was being said, citing the secrecy of the information.
At the same time, the official noted that this process includes “a more thorough study of acute issues on nuclear weapons with allies” both in a bilateral and multilateral format.
Looking for threats
It is worth noting that this is not the first time the United States has declared its readiness to use its nuclear arsenal to provide military assistance to its allies in the Asia-Pacific region.
So, on September 16, Washington promised appropriate support to Seoul, which was recorded in a joint statement by US and South Korean officials who are part of the so-called Extended Deterrence Strategy Council.
The document, posted on the Pentagon website, states that the United States intends to expand strategic deterrence in the interests of the Republic of Korea, including through its nuclear weapons.
The pretext for this statement was the decision of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK to adopt the law "On the policy of the DPRK towards nuclear armed forces", which secured the status of a nuclear power for the republic, as well as the ongoing missile launches of Pyongyang.
In addition, the United States outlined its obligations to regional allies in the field of strategic security in the Nuclear Posture Review.
Its unclassified part was published on the Pentagon website on October 27 along with the national defense strategy.
The document emphasizes that the United States needs to strengthen military cooperation with partners, including in the face of a threat from China.
After all, China poses “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security,” according to Washington.
“The Comprehensive Deterrence principle provides for even closer cooperation with our unparalleled network of allies and partners to deter aggression in different regions,” said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a briefing.
At the same time, under the pretext of all sorts of threats, the United States reserves the right to develop nuclear deterrence capabilities not only in the Asia-Pacific region, but throughout the world.
“For the foreseeable future, nuclear weapons will retain their unique deterrent capability, which no other element of US military power can replace,” the Nuclear Posture Review states.
The Pentagon also pointed to the “threat” to the allies from China in the annual report on the military power of the PRC, published on November 29 on the agency’s website.
The document notes the high pace of modernization of the country's armed forces and the expansion of its nuclear potential.
According to American experts, if Beijing continues to develop its defense capabilities in the same vein, by 2035 it will be able to obtain up to 1,500 nuclear warheads.
US Navy ballistic missile test in the Pacific
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© Chris Bishop/US Navy
In Beijing, in response to the United States escalating the situation around China's nuclear capabilities, they noted that Washington needs to reconsider its own nuclear policy.
“What the American side should do is to seriously rethink its nuclear strategy, abandon the Cold War mentality and the logic of world domination, stop undermining global strategic stability ... and also move towards a significant reduction in its nuclear arsenals in order to ultimately create conditions for comprehensive nuclear disarmament,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a briefing on November 30.
He recalled that the United States is the country with the largest nuclear arsenal.
At the same time, Washington continues to modernize its strategic forces and strengthen the role of nuclear weapons in its national security policy.
"The United States in recent years ... firmly adhered to the policy of nuclear deterrence, based on the ability to be the first to use nuclear weapons," Zhao Lijian said.
Confrontational Mechanisms
In turn, Russia has previously stressed that the United States and its allies are bending their line and promoting confrontational mechanisms in the Asia-Pacific region.
“They compete with the inclusive structures created around ASEAN and assume the militarization of this region with an obvious focus on containing China and Russian interests in the Asia-Pacific region,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the East Asia Summit on November 13.
As an example, he cited the creation of the AUKUS military bloc, which, in addition to the United States, included Australia and Great Britain, and where they are actively trying to lure New Zealand, Canada and Japan.
“There is a tendency towards the militarization of the region by combining the efforts of the US allies - Australia, New Zealand, Japan - with the expansion of NATO's presence in the Asia-Pacific region,” the Russian minister stated.
According to Konstantin Asmolov, a researcher at the Center for Korean Studies at the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the United States, by inflating threats in the Asia-Pacific region and imposing its nuclear umbrella on other countries, is thus trying to bind regional allies to itself more tightly.
“Formally, we are talking about protecting North Korea and China from the nuclear threat.
However, in reality, this is an attempt to prevent allies in the region from following an independent path in organizing their own security.
After all, if Japan and South Korea are not dragged under the protection of American strategic forces, then they will develop their own or look for an alternative in cooperation with other players in the region.”
- the expert explained in an interview with RT.
In addition, US statements about alleged threats in the Asia-Pacific region are made by them out of a desire to develop and maintain a confrontational environment, Asmolov said.
“By constantly setting Japan and the Republic of Korea against the DPRK and the PRC, the United States does not allow them to build constructive cooperation and reduce the escalation in relations.
Thus, Washington is solving its task of forming military blocs in the region, which are primarily directed against its main competitor, China.
In fact, by their actions, the United States is creating an Asian NATO to contain both China and Russia in the region,” the analyst said.
US military in South Korea
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© KIM Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/LightRocket
Konstantin Blokhin, an employee of the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also pointed out the US attempts to escalate the situation in the Asia-Pacific region in a conversation with RT.
“The US needs leverage on China in the region.
These can be allies of Washington, whom he drags to himself, promising them all kinds of help - from economic to military.
The task of the United States is to make partners completely dependent on themselves, in order to then use them to solve their problems in the game against Beijing.
In this regard, Washington is trying to repeat the same scenario as in the European region with respect to Russia,” the analyst noted.
According to him, the United States' keen interest in the Asia-Pacific region is explained by its potential.
After all, this is the future military-political and economic center of the world, and all the largest and most developed economies will be here, Blokhin is sure.
“Therefore, the United States wants to stake out a place for itself, in order to then dictate its vision for the further development of the region.
And they want to do this using proven mechanisms: they are trying to impose bloc thinking on world players, transferring their experience in consolidating the community to the Asia-Pacific region.
Washington believes that if they managed to unite the West on the anti-Russian topic, then a similar approach can work in the East, but already on the anti-Chinese agenda, ”Blokhin concluded.