OPINION:
The Camp David Summit of the U.S., South Korea and Japan was emblematic of an alliance that, despite historical issues, showed that democracies that have the rule of law are responsive to the people can and will unite to deter and — if necessary — defeat a threatening adversary.
Much has been said about the alliance of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea and their effort to appeal to the Global South and others, espousing a line that these autocracies represent a form of governance that others should emulate. It’s hard to understand why any of these countries, based on their behavior, would be a model for others to emulate.
Russia discarded the security assurances it provided to Ukraine in 1994 with the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, pledging to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders or to use or threaten the use of force.
Russia violated these security assurances in 2014 with its invasion and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. Russia then doubled down with its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the carnage continues in this unprovoked war.
Is this the model for others to emulate?
North Korea, which is unable to feed its own people and has a record of extreme human rights abuses, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its nuclear and missile programs, determined to be accepted as a nuclear-armed state.
A desperate and isolated Vladimir Putin has reportedly approached Kim Jong Un for military assistance: artillery shells, rockets, and other weapons in exchange for food and energy assistance and possibly assistance with North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs — all in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
A planned visit by Mr. Kim to Russia to meet with Mr. Putin, most likely in Vladivostok, according to recent media reports, appears to be imminent.
The then-Soviet Union provided North Korea with a research reactor in 1963 and, in 1985, got North Korea to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty — which North Korea quit in 2003 — while also helping with North Korea’s ballistic missile programs.
This ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, when North Korea then looked to China for greater economic assistance and geopolitical support. Russia was an active member of the Six-Party Talks hosted by China from 2003 to 2009, committed to securing the complete and verifiable dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons facilities.
The irony is that Russia now needs North Korea’s military support to persist with its invasion of Ukraine. And North Korea, desperate for attention and economic and military aid, not only openly supports Russia’s invasion of a sovereign nation but is also willing to provide military support to Russia.
Are these the countries that others want to emulate?
Six months after the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody, protests in Iran continue. The demonstrations reflect the people’s resentment toward the ruling theocracy, an elite group apparently oblivious to severe economic conditions such as high inflation and unemployment that affect the people.
Iran’s oppressive regime supports proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Qods Force providing weapons, training and financial support to militias and political organizations in these and other countries, challenging legitimate governments.
Is this the country that others want to emulate?
Since the normalization of relations with China in 1979, the U.S. has been China’s major trading partner, with over $600 billion in annual trade and significant U.S. foreign direct investment in China, with over 300,000 Chinese students attending our universities and colleges each year. Indeed, this was Deng Xiaoping’s strategy when he took over in 1978: ensuring a close economic and strategic relationship with the U.S.
Since Xi Jinping took over in 2013, there has been considerable tension in relations with the U.S. and others to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region and Taiwan Strait, with concern about the treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang province and the 2020 National Security Law for Hong Kong that nullified the Basic Law that allowed 50 years of a “one country, two systems” form of governance for Hong Kong, established in July 1997 when Hong Kong reverted to China after 150 years of British rule.
There is an opportunity for China to cooperate with the U.S. on many issues for the common good, including North Korea, climate change, pandemics, counternarcotics, and counter-international organized crime.
Most important for the U.S., there is a need for continued U.S. global leadership. There is a pressing need to better disseminate information about our values — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a liberal democracy tethered to the rule of law.
We should reconstitute the U.S. Information Service, abolished in 1999, with offices and dedicated personnel in our embassies focused on this important mission.
If left to the people, autocracies will be replaced by democracies dedicated to the rule of law. Our job should be to communicate with the people.
• Joseph R. DeTrani was director of the National Counterproliferation Center and the special envoy for six-party negotiations with North Korea from 2003 to 2006. The views are the author’s and not those of any government agency or department.
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