Is U.S. Being Realistic in Pitting South Korea against China?

Under President Trump in his second term, America has walked back and forth in it military and economic support for Ukraine against Russia. But now it seems the American military establishment is opening a potential front against China by pumping up military support for South Korea, its key strategic base in Asia.

The mainstream media in the U.S. and abroad didn’t make a big deal out of the recent approval of the Trump administration for South Korea to develop a nuclear submarine. But in a handful of analyses and op-ed articles, it was seen as a major strategic move in American foreign policy concerning Chinese influence in the region. Foreign Policy Magazine (November 19) called it a “surprise announcement” by President Trump and reminded that granting this part of South Korea’s defense wish list makes the Asian nation join the race for the first nonnuclear nation to develop nuclear submarine technology.

The Washington Times (November 17) highlighted the military aspect of this development by citing two senior military leaders who called South Korea America’s frontline player in deterring and containing China. The story called it “a shift in defense strategy that would be seismic for Seoul” that capitalizes on the location of South Korea along with Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines:

Combined, they form an offshore barrier that Beijing’s naval forces would have to break through or bypass to reach the open Pacific.

Interestingly, the Trump administration’s move to strengthen the military capabilities of South Korea and the statements of the US military leaders come at a time when South Korea’s new government under the leadership of President Lee Jae-myung is reportedly improving the country’s ties with China, at least on the trade side. Along with the U.S., China is now one of the largest buyers of Korean products.

The strategic playbook of the relations, motives, and responses between different countries involved in this equation doesn’t read the same for various players. Given that Jae-myung’s government has already opposed any intended use of South Korean soil against China, the statements of the US military leadership don’t appear to be more than a wish list entry of the Pentagon. So is it a provocation?

Probably, but could be more so for South Korea’s immediate neighbor and longtime adversary North Korea rather than China. And it shows in the knee-jerk reaction of North Korea to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’ visit to South Korea early this month. Literally hours before Hegseth arrived to hold talks with South Korean leadership, North Korea fired 10 Mach-5 missiles at the Yellow Sea. As reported in Tom Peterson’s November 17 story via Veuer, the launch led to more than 28,000 American troops stationed in South Korea being placed on alert.

If the US approach to counter China by arming South Korea with strong weapons of war is actually arousing North Korea, how does this work for the current American administration that advocates peace and takes credit for ending wars? MAGA leadership probably won’t have to face this question from its critics who are more likely to focus on Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Middle East wars. And this may work in the MAGA candidates’ favor in next year’s midterm elections. But the question remains whether it is really time to talk war when the promise was peace, not in one region or a few but around the world.