Former US Defense Secretary Mattis: "Maintaining Alliances with Korea and Others is Essential... No Pressure for US-China Either-Or Choice"

On the 23rd, an op-ed emphasized the need to build alliances for US security

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis
[Photo by Reuters]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis stated that the United States must cooperate with the international community for national security and that it is essential to maintain strong alliances with Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan, and Australia. He especially advised against pressuring allies to choose sides between the U.S. and China.

On the 23rd (local time), Mattis, along with Corey Sheik, director of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Center, wrote in a Foreign Affairs article titled "Why U.S. Security Depends on Alliances More Than Ever," emphasizing this point. He said, "The world is not safe for the U.S. and its interests," adding, "To protect the United States, rather than waiting for threats to come to the U.S., a depth defense strategy is needed to identify and respond to global issues as they arise."

Mattis stressed the need to build alliances for this purpose. He criticized the 'America First' policy as 'America Alone,' prioritizing only U.S. interests, and emphasized that strengthening national security is fundamentally impossible without the support of other countries. According to him, by cooperating with the international community, the U.S. can address threats from a distance before they spread widely, become harder to defeat, and incur higher costs.

In this context, Mattis identified China as the greatest external threat to the U.S. but suggested that the U.S. should refrain from hegemonic rivalry with China and strive to cooperate for mutual interests. He warned allies not to force a choice between China and the U.S., noting that many allies are economically connected to China, and such a strategy would actually benefit China.

Mattis also emphasized that military power alone cannot replace all non-military factors in national security, highlighting the importance of State Department diplomats, economists from the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve (Fed), and trade experts from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

Mattis, who was the first Secretary of Defense under the Donald Trump administration, resigned in December 2018 after disagreements over Syria and European policies, following repeated clashes with the president.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.