Washington: U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has released its new National Security Strategy, reaffirming his America First policy principles, and calling for South Korea and other allies to increase defense spending and contribute "far more" to "collective defense."
According to Yonhap News Agency, on Thursday, the White House unveiled the 33-page document outlining the administration's stance on foreign policy, defense, and trade. It reiterates Washington's calls for allies and partners to undertake greater security burdens and stresses that "the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over."
The document emphasizes that the U.S. will no longer tolerate, and can no longer afford, "free-riding, trade imbalances, predatory economic practices, and other impositions on our nation's goodwill" that disadvantage American interests. Washington seeks to rebalance its trade and security relations with allies and partners.
"From military alliances to trade relations and beyond, the United States will insist on being treated fairly by other countries," the document stated. It adds that the Trump administration expects allies to spend "far more" of their gross domestic product (GDP) on their own defense to "start to make up for the enormous imbalances accrued over decades of much greater spending by the U.S."
South Korea has committed to raising its defense spending to 3.5 percent of its GDP, receiving praise from U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby. He hailed South Korea as the first treaty ally outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to make that spending commitment.
The document underlines the U.S. commitment to safeguarding the First Island Chain -- an island string linking Japan, Taiwan, and the northern Philippines. The island chain is widely seen as a crucial perimeter for the U.S. to maintain its maritime preeminence in the Pacific against an increasingly assertive China.
"We will build a military capable of denying aggression anywhere in the First Island Chain. But the American military cannot, and should not have to, do this alone. Our allies must step up and spend -- and more importantly do -- much more for collective defense," it reads.
"America's diplomatic efforts should focus on pressing our First Island Chain allies and partners to allow the U.S. military greater access to their ports and other facilities, to spend more on their own defense, and most importantly to invest in capabilities aimed at deterring aggression."
Moreover, it calls for Seoul and Tokyo to secure capabilities to help defend the First Island Chain, language that underscores the U.S.' desire to see core Asian allies contribute to keeping China in check.
"Given President Trump's insistence on increased burden-sharing from Japan and South Korea, we must urge these countries to increase defense spending, with a focus on the capabilities -- including new capabilities -- necessary to deter adversaries and protect the First Island Chain," it says.
"We will also harden and strengthen our military presence in the Western Pacific, while in our dealings with Taiwan and Australia we maintain our determined rhetoric on increased defense spending."
On Taiwan, the document states that deterring a conflict over the island's democracy, which China regards as part of its territory, is a "priority." However, it maintains America's longstanding declaratory policy on Taiwan, meaning the U.S. does not support any "unilateral change to the status quo" in the Taiwan Strait.
In a message against China, the document calls for ending "predatory," state-directed subsidies and industrial strategies, unfair trading practices, intellectual property theft, and threats that risk U.S. access to critical resources, including minerals and rare earth elements.
It also indicates that the U.S. must "encourage South Korea, Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and other countries in adopting trade policies that help rebalance China's economy toward household consumption."
"Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East cannot alone absorb China's enormous excess capacity," it states. "The exporting nations of Europe and Asia can also look to middle-income countries as a limited but growing market for their exports."