The US Navy aircraft carrier USS George Washington participated in the Freedom Edge trilateral exercise among the United States, Japan, and South Korea in the East China Sea on Thursday.
US, Japanese, and South Korean naval forces conducted their most complex and final joint drills in East Asian waters before President Joe Biden hands over one of his signature national security initiatives to Donald Trump. The exercise, led by the USS George Washington and its jet fighters, took place south of the Korean peninsula and west of Japan's main islands. This follows a 2023 pact brokered by Biden, where Seoul and Tokyo set aside years of mutual animosity and agreed to trilateral security cooperation with Washington.
Further exercises are planned for next year, but neither Trump nor his pick for Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, have outlined their national security plans for the sensitive East Asia region. Biden, who leaves the White House in January, also pushed to extend the three-way cooperation to technology, supply chain security, and cyber defenses.
Jeffrey Hornung, an expert in Japanese security policy at the Rand Corporation, noted that if trilateralism is touted as a Biden achievement, Trump may choose to ignore it. Trump's allies have assured officials in Japan and South Korea that he would support deeper three-way ties.
In the latest meeting between senior officials from the three countries, their national security advisers expressed concern over deepening cooperation between Russia and North Korea. With Biden's departure, only South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol will remain of the three leaders who agreed on closer cooperation at a 2023 Camp David gathering.
US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, visiting the carrier on Thursday, said the three-way pact and military cooperation sent a strong message to Beijing. Japanese Rear Admiral Takashi Matsui and South Korean Rear Admiral Hur Sung-jae, who commanded their countries' forces in the naval exercise, stood beside him in the ship's hangar deck surrounded by F-18 and F-35 fighter jets.
For Seoul, the exercise, which came after North Korea's recent ICBM test, sent a message to its belligerent neighbor, emphasizing response and deterrence.
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