The “War Department” faces Trump’s first major test in the Far East
It appears that President Trump’s decision to change the name of the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of War is inconsistent with his pride in solving up to seven different wars in his campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Changing the name does not change anything in the American defense situation, but he fortified the image that Trump wants to transfer to an incredibly strong American military machine – so strong that no foreign leader dares to challenge her. The more powerful the United States is the military, the less foreign power is the higher the American superiority. Peace, then, according to this logic, will prevail.
However, the United States has not yet had to respond militarily to the worst threats of peace – not in Eastern Europe, despite the war in Ukraine, and not in the Middle East, as Israel continues to blur Gaza.
However, the worst danger is that the three leaders who sat side by side in the great “Victory Day” procession in Beijing: the host, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and his best guests, Russia President Vladimir Putin and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un. The fact that Xi put Kim in this place of honor showed China’s permanent support for the same regime that rushed to defense in the Korean war.
The man who ruled China and then, Mao Zaidong, just completed the acquisition of the Chinese mainland by his red army. XI, to a large extent the most powerful Chinese leader since the Mawwi rule, is completely able to support Kim in a second Korean war. Putin, the most permanent Russian leader since Joseph Stalin, will surely ally with Shi, as did Mao and Stalin. Kim, after sending about 15,000 soldiers along with thousands of artillery shells and other weapons to Russia to support her campaign in Ukraine, was concerned with Moscow to support him as in the first Korean war, after Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Song, who was installed by the Russians in 1945, decided to split South Korea after five years.
Everything that hinders the Chinese, Russians and North Koreans at the present time is the fear of the regional war in which they risk heavy losses without the opportunity to win. Trump, despite all the great conversation with him and the Minister of “War” Beit Higseth, has not yet shown any sign of strengthening America’s defenses in the region. Instead, he seemed to tend to weaken American treaties with South Korea and Japan, as he talks about his “love” for Kim, who believes he may be able to arrange another meeting in the near future.
But Kim does not “need” Trump as he did in 2018 and 2019 when he agreed to two summaries. The first two of Monday, in Singapore, ended with a Vapid statement that did nothing clearly to strengthen the American demand for the north to abandon his nuclear program, and the second, in Hanoi, ended uply when Trump cut the dialogue after Kim explained that he would retain intentions and missiles. With Shi and Putin now completely next to him, Kim can ignore Trump’s motivation for a debate that has no meaning that it is certain that he will not result in any fundamental results. Why should it bother?
Lines in East Asia, after the Beijing Victory exhibition, which includes its military strength, is now being painted more sharp than ever. In the face of the giant powers and their enthusiastic protection, the United States returns to Japan, a sleeping giant with a small number of men and women under weapons, but it is a technically advanced military institution, and South Korea, a weapons export. The move to the bottom of the island, Taiwan and the Philippines are also facing China in separate approvals, where the continuous support of the United States is required if they want to survive. South Korea, which is always afraid of disturbing China, does not want its greatest commercial partner, any part of defending either of them, but Japan sees their freedom and independence vital to regional security.
The wild card, as usual, is Trump. He is proud of himself as a peace man, and he talked about reducing the number of American forces in Korea and Japan while bargaining for both countries to contribute more to US defense costs. If the renaming of the Ministry of Defense means anything, it may eventually be forced to show the American military force in an area where the conflict, as soon as it begins, is more bloody than it is still “limited wars” confined to Gaza and Ukraine.
Donald Kerk has been a journalist for more than 60 years, as he focused a lot of his career on the conflict in Asia and the Middle East, including as a reporter for the Washington and Chicago Tribune star. He is currently an independent correspondent covering North and South Korea, and he is the author of many books on Asian affairs.
