As a result, the price of nonproliferation in East Asia is America’s willingness to risk Los Angeles to protect Seoul and Tokyo, and maybe Taipei and Canberra too. Nonproliferation has turned out a lot like domestic gun control: only the bad guys get guns. In China, Russia, and North Korea are the nuclear powers. America is supposed to provide geopolitical balance.
And while there was good reason to oppose President Park Chung-hee, a dictator in charge of a still poor and unstable Republic of Korea, the same objections do not apply to his daughter and the much wealthier democracy she leads. While few might have been inclined to trust Japan just two or three decades after World War II, now more than seventy years have passed. Surely Tokyo is far more trustworthy than well-armed Beijing.
Thus, the question is what approach is likely to most promote stability in Northeast Asia and least risk to U.S. security. So far, America’s defense promises have not caused China’s dragon or Russia’s bear to lie down with the lamb. China is acting aggressively toward Japan, Philippines, and Vietnam in particular; Russia continues to challenges the United States. North Korea is worse, constantly breathing fire against its neighbors and the United States.
