American Envoy Sherman Marches Into East Asia With Promise of ‘Forceful’ Response to North Korea

SEOUL – Alarmed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and China’s aggressive diplomacy, America is playing catch-up on the eastern rim of Asia after perceived neglect of the region.At the vanguard of America’s diplomatic offensive this week, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, in talks here with top Korean and Japanese officials, promised a “forceful” response if North Korea’s Kim Jong-un actually orders the regime’s seventh underground nuclear test. Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy on North Korea who was in Seoul last week, said in Washington the North was ready for the test and could do it “any time.”“The U.S. and Japan are fully and closely aligned on the DPRK,” Ms. Sherman said at the Korean foreign ministry here, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea. America and its two northeast Asian allies have a “shared goal,” she said, the “complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”Every North Korean missile launch, she added, “poses a serious threat to the international community.”Just what she means by “forceful” was left unclear, but the common denominator behind American concerns is China, which keeps North Korea on life support by supplying all its oil, half its food and, lately, medical aid. In fact, China is the only country from which the North is accepting medicine while battling a Covid-19 pandemic that’s sweeping a country with scant medical facilities and whose 26 million people are unvaccinated.Washington, since North Korea test-fired eight missiles last Sunday, has joined Seoul in responding with an eight-missile barrage of its own, sent up war planes on intimidation flights over the Yellow Sea, and, of course, sought sanctions in the UN Security Council that China and Russia have blocked. It’s assumed President Biden would want to press for more sanctions if Mr. Kim presses the button on a nuclear test, which many observers believe is a definite possibility on or before June 25, the anniversary of North Korean invasion of South Korea in 1950.While failing to back up her words with specifics, Ms. Sherman in her march through east Asia will also be offering reassurances of Washington’s renewed commitment to the region when she travels Thursday to the Philippines and, on the weekend, to Vietnam.In each stopover, she faces delicate diplomatic challenges in dealing with leaders and nations with deep-seated complexes about America’s military adventures in the region. Her visit to the Philippines will be full of historical irony when she sees Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who takes office as president at the end of the month after trouncing an opponent who was far more to Washington’s liking.Ms. Sherman will have to be careful in speaking with Mr. Marcos, who will in turn repay the courtesy while giving a superficial appearance of forgiving Washington’s central role in overthrowing his long-ruling father at the height of the bloodless People Power revolution in February 1986. Neither can forget that the United States and the Philippines are bound by a security treaty that has small numbers of American troops joining Philippine forces every year in exercises that military leaders of both countries see as essential to security against China’s claim to the entire South China Sea.Convinced that the United States would not go to war for the Philippines against China, the outgoing president, Rodrigo Duterte, has cozied up to Beijing while decrying Chinese inroads into Philippine fishing grounds and maintaining his country’s grip on several islets in the Spratly Islands, where China has established navy and air bases. President-elect Marcos is sure to oppose military confrontation while promoting friendly relations with China, to all of which Ms. Sherman will make an appearance of complete understanding. At the same time, she’ll be reminding Mr. Marcos of the deep cultural, commercial, social and political as well as military ties between America and the Philippines, which the Americans once governed as their greatest colonial adventure.From the Philippines, for Ms. Sherman it’s on to Vietnam, the country where American forces waged war for a decade in support of a regime in Saigon that crumbled and fell in Hanoi’s final offensive in April 1975, more than two years after Washington had withdrawn the last of its combat forces. She’ll be meeting top officials of the ruling Communist Party in both Hanoi and the former Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, renamed after the great Communist leader who inspired and directed the Communist regime in Hanoi before his death in 1969.Memories of the suffering of all sides will no doubt pervade the atmosphere of her talks, but the emphasis now, the State Department said, will be on “the strength of the U.S.-Vietnam comprehensive partnership and U.S support for a strong, prosperous, and independent Vietnam.”How could it be that Vietnam and the United States have formed what would appear like such a close, cordial relationship? Again, the answer is China, which has thwarted Hanoi’s claims to areas of the South China Sea near its coastline that are rich in natural gas and other resources. China has gotten America and other nations ringing alarm bells all the way from the east coast of Africa while developing what’s been called a “string of pearls” in the form of ports that serve ostensibly civilian purposes but with military application.Here’s one more that Ms. Sherman won’t be visiting: Ream, the port on the southern coast of Cambodia. It was through Ream, close to the South China Sea on the Gulf of Thailand, that Hanoi shipped arms for Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam, and now the Chinese are developing Ream for the benefit of the Cambodians — and themselves.Nor will Ms. Sherman be at what’s called the Shangri-La Dialogue this weekend in Singapore. That will be the duty of America’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, who will have a chance to chat it up with some of his opposite numbers, including China’s defense minister, Wei Fenghe.How much they’ll really accomplish is of course open to serious question. South Korea’s defense minister, Lee Jong-sup, is “expected to focus on cooperation in coping with the North’s evolving nuclear and missile threats,” according to the South Korean news agency, Yonhap.If North Korea’s defense minister is not around to say the North is only defending itself against its enemies, China’s Mr. Wei is more than likely to argue the North’s case.

American Envoy Sherman Marches Into East Asia With Promise of ‘Forceful’ Response to North Korea

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