U.S., Japan, South Korea to Deepen Trilateral Security Ties at Summit |
At the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting the leaders (Nikkei) of Japan and South Korea with the aim of deepening trilateral security cooperation against threats from China and North Korea. They will commit to creating a three-way military hotline, expanding joint exercises, and holding annual leader meetings, White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said. The countries have not held a trilateral summit outside of broader international meetings since 1994, but concerns over China’s behavior and North Korea’s escalated military testing and rhetoric in the Pacific have warmed previously strained ties between Seoul and Tokyo. Today’s meeting marks the first time (AP) Biden has invited foreign leaders to Camp David.
The leaders are also expected to announce plans to boost cooperation on ballistic missile defense and to conduct three-way military exercises (NYT), though Japan has stopped short of agreeing to join U.S.-South Korean planning for a potential nuclear conflict with North Korea.
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“The Biden administration has pushed to institutionalize trilateral coordination in an attempt to ‘lock in’ both allies and future U.S. leaderships to a collective commitment to bolster a rules-based as opposed to a force-based Indo-Pacific security order. The institutionalization of trilateralism also compartmentalizes such cooperation from bilateral disputes and distances the United States from having to play a mediating role between Japan and South Korea,” CFR expert Scott A. Snyder writes for the Asia Unbound blog.
“South Korea and Japan do not have a formal security alliance, and their long-standing disputes have hampered American efforts to collaborate against joint threats in the region,” the Washington Post’s Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Ellen Nakashima write. “Such a meeting was hard to imagine just a year ago.”
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Chinese Real Estate Giant Files for Bankruptcy Protection in New York Court |
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Pakistan Swears In Caretaker Cabinet |
The cabinet will supervise (Al Jazeera) preparations for new elections, though a redrawing of electoral districts is expected to delay the vote, currently scheduled to take place by November. Such a delay would prolong the political turmoil Pakistan has suffered since April 2022, when then Prime Minister Imran Khan lost a vote of no confidence.
Myanmar: On a visit to Myanmar, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths urged the country’s military leaders (Reuters) to allow better humanitarian access. He said a third of the population requires assistance, but that UN humanitarian goals for Myanmar were only 22 percent funded at the year’s halfway point.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Iran Detains Activists Ahead of Anniversary of Mass Protests |
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CFR’s Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins discuss the U.S.-Japan-South Korea talks; Ecuador’s snap elections; the BRICS summit; and Niger’s escalating crisis. |
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Seven South African Opposition Parties Make Preelection Pact |
The parties agreed to cooperate (AP) to try to unseat the long-ruling African National Congress party if it does not reach a majority in next year’s elections.
Niger: The military chiefs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said that the bloc is bolstering the standby force (The Guardian) that it is positioning to intervene militarily in Niger. Meanwhile, African and international governments are still trying to restore democracy through diplomatic channels.
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U.S. Approval Allows Ukrainian F-16 Training to Begin |
Washington approved the transfer (Politico) of F-16 training materials to Denmark, clearing a bureaucratic hurdle that will soon allow Ukrainian pilots to learn to fly the jets, unnamed U.S. officials said. Kyiv does not expect to receive the jets this year.
These charts by CFR’s Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow show the extent of U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again extended martial law (WaPo), which was declared following Russia’s invasion. If it is not lifted, parliamentary elections meant to occur in the fall will be postponed.
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Ecuador to Hold General Elections, Referendum on Oil Drilling |
In addition to voting in snap elections on Sunday, Ecuadorians will vote on whether to allow oil drilling (NYT) in the Amazon Rainforest’s Yasuní National Park.
In the New York Times, CFR expert Will Freeman discusses the devastating crime surge that has preceded Ecuador’s election.
Guatemala: Guatemalans will vote (The Economist) in a presidential runoff on Sunday. Anticorruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo de León leads polls by more than 20 percentage points, but some members of the political elite have tried to block him from competing.
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Maui Emergency-Management Chief Resigns Amid Criticism Over Wildfire Response |
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NPR unveils a trove of previously secret reports from 2016-19 in which government-hired experts documented “barbaric” conditions in immigration detention facilities across the United States. |
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Council on Foreign Relations |
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