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Hints dropped that USFK might have to help defend Taiwan
Thought Leader: General Robert “Abe” Abrams, U.S. Army (RET)
September 27, 2022
Source: Korea JoongAng Daily
U.S. military and diplomatic officials made remarks Monday implying that South Korea could be expected to work with the United States to support a defense of Taiwan in case of a conflict with China.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia on Tuesday, retired Gen. Robert Abrams, who served as the commander of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) from 2018 to 2021, said that the United States will keep open “all options” in deciding what forces might be used in the event of a military conflict between China and Taiwan, “including those assigned to the USFK.”
Abrams stopped short of spelling out what South Korea’s involvement in such a conflict might be.
His comments followed remarks last week by current USFK Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera, who said USFK commanders do “contingency planning” for “anything,” leading to speculation that U.S. troops in South Korea could be mobilized in the event of a military conflict over Taiwan, a self-governing island claimed by China.
The remarks by Abrams and LaCamera prompted Seoul’s defense ministry to issue an explanation that USFK’s “top priority” was to ward off a North Korean attack.
“As current Commander LaCamera has said, the USFK, along with our military, has been maintaining a solid combined defense posture,” Col. Moon Hong-sik, the ministry’s deputy spokesperson, told a regular press briefing. “[LaCamera] also said that the USFK places top priority on missions to deter and respond to potential North Korean aggression.”
Meanwhile, at a Monday press briefing in Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price stressed that while the United States shares “an ironclad alliance with our South Korean partners,” he said their security relationship is built not only on shared interests, but also on “shared values” — values which he cited as factors in U.S. support for Taiwan.
Price added that Washington has a shared interest with Seoul “in upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Ships from the U.S. Navy regularly transit through the Taiwan Strait between the island and mainland China to underscore Washington’s argument that most of it is in international waters.
While the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea defines territorial waters as extending only 12 nautical miles from a country’s coastline, Beijing claims sovereignty over the strait as part of its claim over the island.
The Taiwan Strait is around 110 miles wide, but only 81 miles wide at its narrowest point.
The oblique comments by both Abrams and Price hint at a U.S. expectation that South Korea will not sit on the sidelines during a potential conflict over Taiwan.
In an interview with CBS that aired on Sept. 18, U.S. President Joe Biden explicitly stated that U.S. troops would be involved in the effort to defend Taiwan if China launched an invasion of the island.
But Seoul has not specified what actions it would undertake to support a U.S. defense of Taiwan in case of an attack by China.
When asked in a recent interview with CNN if South Korea would join in the defense of Taiwan, President Yoon Suk-yeol only said the probability of a North Korean provocation would rise in such a case.
“Therefore, in that case, the top priority for Korea and the U.S.-Korea alliance on the Korean Peninsula would be based on our robust defense posture,” Yoon said, adding, “We must deal with the North Korean threat first.”
According to a survey commissioned by the JoongAng Ilbo and the East Asia Institute, 42 percent of South Korean survey respondents said Seoul should limit its involvement in a military conflict over Taiwan to supporting U.S. forces, while 22.5 percent said South Korea should also send troops to help defend the island.
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