Why Joe Biden will host Japan and South Korea’s leaders at Camp David

CAMP DAVID, the American president’s country residence, occupies a special place in diplomatic lore. The wooded grounds have been the setting for intimate meetings and historic negotiations, including a wartime confab between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill and peace talks between Israel and its Arab neighbours. On August 18th President Joe Biden will host Japan’s prime minister, Kishida Fumio, and South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, for the first-ever standalone summit between the three countries’ leaders. Officials hope the meeting will enter the annals by cementing ties between America and two key allies whose bitter history has often divided them.These days China’s assertiveness, North Korea’s belligerence and Russian aggression are bringing the three closer. The governments’ strategic visions “have never been this closely aligned”, boasts Rahm Emanuel, America’s ambassador to Japan. A recent rapprochement between Japan and South Korea has helped, too. The summit will focus on deeper defence ties. Technology and supply chains for energy and semiconductors will also be on the agenda. The leaders will probably issue a joint declaration laying out their shared interests in military and economic security.