South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines have been working with the United States under different trilateral frameworks.
The incoming Trump administration will continue to foster relationships between the United States and its Indo–Pacific allies, according to President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.).
Waltz made the comments during an appearance at a “Passing the Baton” event alongside President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington on Jan. 14.
The institute has been organizing the event since 2001 to commemorate the peaceful transition of power from one administration to the next.
Calling the Chinese regime the “greatest adversary” of the United States, Waltz said that one of the critical bipartisan policies on China for the new administration would be to “really continue to reinforce” the existing partnerships with Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, for the shared vision of a free and open Indo–Pacific.
“Where I certainly give this administration some credit is the trilateral dialog between South Korea, the United States, and Japan, and then also between the United States, Japan, and the Philippines,” Waltz said.
His remarks indicate that Trump’s Indo–Pacific policy would include working with regional partners, given the ongoing strategic competition between the United States and communist China.
Currently, tensions run high in the South China Sea, where Manila has criticized Beijing for deploying Chinese coast guard vessels to the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone.
The Chinese regime’s cyberespionage campaign has also targeted Japan. On Jan. 8, Japan’s National Police Agency said a Chinese cyberespionage group has been trying to steal information on the country’s national security and advanced technology.
US–Japan–South Korea
The current trilateral cooperation between the United States, Japan, and South Korea can be traced back to the first Trump administration. Trump’s previous national security strategy, released in December 2017, said that the United States would “encourage the development of a strong defense network with our allies and partners,” such as cooperating on missile defense with Japan and South Korea.
In August 2023, Biden convened a historic summit at Camp David with then-Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The leaders inked a new security accord known as the “Camp David Principles,” which has paved the way for the three nations to cooperate in multiple areas, including intelligence sharing and holding military exercises.
A year after the pact was signed, the three leaders issued a joint statement saying that the three sides had made “tremendous progress” in the past year.
Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), has previously voiced support for the cooperation between Japan, South Korea, and the United States.
“A trilateral alliance between the US, Japan, and Korea would be a crucial foundation that furthers our joint efforts in the Indo-Pacific,” Rubio said on social media platform X in August 2023, welcoming Kishida and Yeol’s visits to the United States at the time.
Terrence Matsuo, a nonresident fellow at the Korea Economic Insitute of America, opined that the incoming Trump administration “will support trilateralism” between Japan, South Korea, and the United States, according to his article published on Jan. 9.
However, he warned that Yoon could be replaced by a new leader who might not continue the president’s foreign policy.
“Given Yoon’s abortive martial law declaration, impeachment, and potential removal from office, his administration may well be replaced by a progressive successor less inclined to build upon Yoon’s efforts to strengthen ties with Japan and, by extension, US–Korea–Japan trilateralism,” Matsuo wrote.
On Jan. 15, Yoon, who has been suspended from office, was arrested by South Korea’s anti-corruption investigators for his short-lived martial law declaration last month.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yul, held talks in Seoul on Jan. 13. Cho said during a press conference that he expected the South Korea–Japan–U.S. cooperation to continue during Trump’s second term, according to The Korea Times.
Iwaya said he plans to attend Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 and will tell the new U.S. administration about the “critical importance” of the trilateral cooperation, the outlet reported.
US–Japan–Philippines
In April last year, Biden, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Kishida held a first-of-its-kind summit in Washington to strengthen defense ties among the three nations. They agreed to work more closely together in the South China Sea and announced new steps to enhance cooperation in several areas, including energy and cybersecurity.
On Jan. 12, Biden, Marcos, and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met virtually. According to a White House readout, the three leaders discussed trilateral maritime security, economic cooperation, and China’s “dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea.”
Marcos also discussed trilateral cooperation with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris during their phone call on Jan. 14, according to a White House readout.
“The trilateral cooperation with Japan is a very important way to deepen our economic cooperation and build secured supply chains as well as promote security across the region,” Harris was quoted as saying in Manila’s press release about the call.
The Japanese foreign minister on Jan. 15 visited the Philippines, where he met with his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, and Marcos. According to a statement from Japan’s foreign ministry, Marcos told Iwaya that the trilateral cooperation “has produced concrete results in many areas” and expressed hope to “further deepen” it.
Waltz, a vocal critic of the Chinese communist regime, has previously voiced support for the Philippines.
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers, including Waltz, introduced a resolution in 2023 reaffirming the U.S. alliance with the Philippines and condemning China’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea.
The lawmakers condemned the Chinese regime for its use of “gray zone tactics in the South China Sea to enforce its unlawful territorial and sovereignty claims” and its use of “lasing, water cannons, and ramming against Philippine vessels,” according to the text of the resolution.