On the 28th local time, the NATO summit kicked off in Madrid, the capital of Spain.
There are two focuses of this summit. One is that the West intends to be more united against Russia, and the other is that Britain and the United States and other countries are trying to NATO "intervene" in Asia-Pacific affairs .
Regarding the second point, it was already “publicized” before the summit. After all, it is the first time in history that leaders from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea have been invited to attend a NATO summit.
Don’t forget, these four countries are neither North Atlantic countries nor NATO members, but serious Asia-Pacific countries.
Especially in Japan and South Korea, their leaders are very rare "yellow skin" among Western leaders.
In fact, Japan and South Korea should know that the most critical factor in their ability to have a seat at the NATO summit is that is close to China and there are US troops stationed in the country.
As China's "unmovable neighbors" , Japan and South Korea have therefore become the outposts and pawns of the United States in promoting the "Asia-Pacific Strategy". Therefore, under the encouragement of the United States, NATO has begun to turn more attention to the Asia-Pacific.
If we put this factor aside, when will the United States and even the West really take Japan and South Korea seriously? The most direct example of
is the G7 summit that just concluded.
It was obviously a joint meeting of the leaders of the seven countries, but under the lens of the Western media, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida did not receive the "respect" he deserved. Almost his entire body was covered by British Prime Minister Johnson. Only half of his forehead was vaguely exposed.
On the contrary, European Council President Michel or European Commission President Von der Leyen , their actual power is far less than that of the top leader of a country, but they can "steal the limelight" in group photos.
What’s interesting is that South Korean President Yin Xiyue also has a deep understanding of the similar situation of being ignored.
On the 28th, when leaders of NATO countries took a group photo as usual, South Korean President Yoon Seok-yue stretched out his hand with a smile on his face and warmly shook hands with US President Biden . However, Biden showed no expression on his face. He did not even look at Yin Xiyue and was busy shaking hands with the people next to him and joking. This scene of
caused heated discussions on the Korean Internet. "does not look at the handshake" even became an Internet buzzword. Many Korean netizens claim: This is South Korea's "shame" . If Moon Jae-in became the president of South Korea, this situation would not happen.
Although it is just a small matter, it reveals the attitude of the Biden administration towards the Yin Xiyue administration. It is obviously not very "caring" and even a little disrespectful. Biden entered the political arena in 1970 and has been working hard for more than 50 years. It is impossible for him to not understand basic diplomatic etiquette.
It should be noted that this is Yin Xiyue's first foreign visit since he officially took office as the president of South Korea on May 10. Yin Xiyue's every move in this diplomatic event will attract the attention of the Korean people.
However, the "no handshake" incident was just an episode. Yin Xiyue's first visit actually showed that had too many ups and downs and setbacks in . On the first day of the
summit, Yin Xiyue originally planned to meet with Finnish President Niinisto . This was also the first itinerary of his "NATO trip". However, before the meeting started, was suddenly canceled and was canceled.
Subsequently, Yin Xiyue prepared to hold a meeting with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg as planned, but he himself waited for more than 30 minutes at the meeting venue, , only to receive news that the meeting had been cancelled. In desperation, Yin Xiyue had to turn around and leave, and South Korea could only re-coordinate the meeting time with NATO.
Two consecutive meetings were temporarily canceled. I think Yin Xiyue was also "simmering with anger".
But the situation is stronger than the people. The Secretary-General of NATO was chairing talks with the leaders of Turkey , Finland and Sweden at the time.Since Turkey changed its position and promised to give Finland and Sweden a conditional "green light" to join NATO, caused a serious "timeout" of the consultation time .
In the end, Finland and Sweden satisfied Turkey's "wish list", prompting the three countries to sign a memorandum. The Secretary-General of NATO was certainly not willing to miss this historic moment.
It seems that Yin Xiyue is "forced to give way" to this time by . After all, compared with the temptation to promote the "NATO northward expansion" process, the arrangement of a meeting with the leader of a non-NATO country can indeed be postponed.
Of course, Yin Xiyue did not gain nothing this day.
At the dinner on the 28th, Yin Xiyue met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and the two sides had a 3, 4-minute conversation . Although it didn't last long, it was the first time since Yin Xiyue took office as president that he had a face-to-face conversation with Kishida Fumio.
According to the South Korean Presidential Office , the two sides first "courted" each other: Fumio Kishida wished Yin Xiyue a successful election as president and victory in the local elections, while Yin Xiyue wished that Fumio Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party would be able to win in 7 Achieved good results in the Senate election in September.
Then, both parties got to the point.
Fumio Kishida said that he would work hard for the healthy development of relations between the two countries. Yin Xiyue expressed the hope that after Japan's Senate election, the two countries can resolve "outstanding issues" as soon as possible and jointly "move towards the future".
Whether it is hypocrisy or sincerity, the contact between the leaders of Japan and South Korea in just a few minutes, is at least a good start, and shows that both sides have the intention to ease relations.
Please note that the United States, Japan and South Korea will hold a trilateral summit meeting on the 29th local time. At that time, the three parties will discuss issues of common concern. In this context, it is still necessary for the heads of state of Japan and South Korea to "understand" in advance.
Of course, the ideal is very full, but the reality is very skinny.
It should be pointed out that since the start of the "Japan-South Korea trade war", the two heads of state have not been able to hold a bilateral meeting on . Even though both Kishida Fumio and Yin Xiyue attended the NATO summit this time, the two sides had no intention of holding talks on the opportunity.
It seems that neither Tokyo nor Seoul believes that "the time has come" and the differences between the two countries are still difficult to bridge. Trade wars, territorial disputes, Fukushima nuclear wastewater discharge into the sea, "comfort women" compensation and other issues are not difficulties that can be solved overnight.
Faced with this dilemma, even if the Yin Xiyue government intends to "shelve" it, Korean society will never agree.
The only thing that is certain is that the dispute between Japan and South Korea is exactly an opportunity that the Biden administration can take advantage of. With the help of these contradictions, the United States can better control Japan and South Korea, thereby serving the United States' "Asia-Pacific Strategy."
