Asia | Indo-Pacific strategy

Why Joe Biden will host Japan and South Korea’s leaders at Camp David

America wants to institutionalise co-operation with two key Asian allies

The American, Japanese and South Korean flags coming closely together, with the American flag in the middle
Image: Rose Wong
|Seoul and Tokyo

CAMP DAVID, the American president’s country residence, occupies a special place in diplomatic lore. The wooded grounds have been the setting for intimate meetings and historic negotiations, including a wartime confab between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill and peace talks between Israel and its Arab neighbours. On August 18th President Joe Biden will host Japan’s prime minister, Kishida Fumio, and South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, for the first-ever standalone summit between the three countries’ leaders. Officials hope the meeting will enter the annals by cementing ties between America and two key allies whose bitter history has often divided them.

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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Camp friends”

From the August 12th 2023 edition

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