(CNN) – According to a congressional aide and an administration official, the Trump administration has requested an approximate 400% increase in the amount South Korea contributes to the maintenance of United States forces in Korea — the “Special Measures Agreement,” CNN reported on Thursday. (Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has refused to confirm this figure, simply saying, “we have asked for a significant increase in the cost-sharing for our deployed troops.”) After last year’s talks ended with a one-year agreement, rather than the longer agreements successfully negotiated nine times starting in 1991, it was expected that the talks would be difficult — but this increase is not the start of a serious negotiation.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the United States has already walked away from the talks, saying that South Korea was “not responsive to our request for fair and equitable burden sharing.” It is not surprising that Seoul would not acquiesce to the American proposal. The reported cost increase itself is a non-starter that sends an extraordinarily damaging signal to American allies around the world — and it is a gift to America’s adversaries.
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Trump’s vision of the US military as a mercenary force is horrifying, but even more horrifying is that he has engaged in the seemingly purposeful, if haphazard, destruction of long-term alliances. There is never a good time to damage an alliance, but this is an especially bad time. South Korea and Japan are in the midst of a bitter trade war that has led to Seoul’s ill-advised withdrawal from an intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo, not to mention the decline in beer exports from Japan to Korea.
China and Russia have started joint air incursions not only into the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone, but into South Korean airspace, resulting in hundreds of warning shots fired by the South Korean Air Force.
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p>All of America’s formal and informal allies need to have contingency plans in place should they be abandoned by Trump. Some states may find it necessary to bandwagon with China or Russia. Others will pursue their own nuclear deterrent and spark regional arms races. And even if Trump backs down from his ludicrous demand, he has already damaged America’s reputation and insulted our allies by making it.
It is hard to imagine how any of this is in the interest of the United States.
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"All of America's formal and informal allies need to have contingency plans in place should they be abandoned by Trump," writes Jonathan Cristol for @CNNOpinion https://t.co/LMckjJCPB4
— CNN (@CNN) November 21, 2019
Reminder: 36K Americans — plus countless ROKs & UN personnel — died to keep South Korea free, and hundreds of thousands of Americans have served there since 1953 to keep the peace.
Donnie's on the edge of throwing that all away.
We deserve an answer.https://t.co/2DhNhvs5mB
— John Schindler (@20committee) November 21, 2019
Typical Trump. Cozy up to our enemies and disrespect our allies and friends.
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