The next primary election for both parties is less than a week away…in Wisconsin. While the campaigning continues, some of the rhetoric is getting attention from overseas---especially when it comes to Donald Trump’s views about Asia. HPR’s Bill Dorman has more in today’s Asia Minute.
Donald Trump has told the New York Times that he’d consider withdrawing US forces from Japan and South Korea unless those countries pay more for their upkeep. He also indicated he’d be willing to have Japan and South Korea develop nuclear weapons programs.
South Korea’s Joong Ang Daily wrote in an editorial “We are dumbfounded at such myopic views of a leading candidate in the U.S. presidential race.”
The newspaper said a nuclear Japan would “jolt the existing power balance in Northeast Asia. Countries in the region, including North Korea and China, will accelerate their arms race, particularly in nuclear weapons….sparking a nuclear domino.” About 50,000 US personnel are stationed in Japan; another 28,500 are in South Korea.
Bloomberg reports Japan will pay more than $3.2-billion dollars to host US forces this year…while the Yonhap news agency reports Korea pays about three-quarters of a billion dollars a year. The Korea Economic Daily said it was important to correct the misperception about payments—adding “South Korea will be in trouble if it lets Trump continue his ‘free ride’ accusations.”
An international editor at the Sydney Morning Herald called Trump’s views “idiotic and dangerous”…saying that his “musings will strengthen the hand of those arguing that the US is an increasingly unreliable ally.”
