Bilateral Treaties are “an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law.” During the Cold War, bilateral treaties were the main way the United States created alliances in Asia. Bilateral treaties are important because they form the basis for the U.S. military relationship with both Japan and South Korea to this day. This alliance method meant the US would have separate treaties with each individual allied country in Asia (primarily Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan), but those countries would not have treaties with each other. This gave the US a lot of power over its Asian allies, since the US had agreements with multiple countries in the region, while Asian countries only had agreements with the US. This arrangement shaped the balance of power and way alliances have generally worked in East Asia until present day. Many countries still have bilateral treaties, as opposed to multilateral treaties, which are agreements “between a large number of states, usually (though not always) denoting participation by a majority of the world’s states,” and therefore give more equal power to those signing the treaty.
This alliance system the US created in Asia after World War II is called the “Hub and Spoke system,” also referred to as the “San Francisco System.” The United States was the “Hub” and countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan were the “spokes,” meaning these countries were all allied with the US at the center, but not with each other, like the spokes of a bike wheel. This allowed the United States to begin its rise to global supremacy by expanding its military reach across the Pacific.
US-Japan Relations
US-Japan relations were officially established at the San Francisco Conference in April 1945, after the conclusion of World War II. 46 nations plus four sponsors were invited to the conference because they had declared war on Germany and Japan. This conference was key because it was where the US wrote Japan’s constitution and disarmed their military, which “officially ended Japan’s position as an imperial power.” The 1951 United States-Japan Security Treaty established that the US would station soldiers on Japanese soil and have the exclusive right to defend Japan from threats even after Japan regained sovereignty, meaning Japan could not have its own standing military. The agreement was renewed in 1960 and created greater mutual security cooperation and reliance between the US and Japan by allowing the US to “establish bases on the archipelago in exchange for a commitment to defend Japan in the event of an attack,” which is still in effect today.
Despite the fact that Article 9 of the Japanese constitution states that Japan is not allowed to have its own military, Japan created their own Self-Defence force (SDF) under Former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida of Japan in 1954. The SDF established Japan’s maintenance of military forces to settle international disputes as a result of US presence being reduced in East Asia at the time. Under former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in 2013, a reformed Article 9 allowed for the SDF and foreign militaries to collaborate to protect Japan from threats.
US-South Korea Relations
South Korea and the United States also have deep military ties. In June 1950, the North Korean military invaded South Korea and started the Korean War. With the help of the United States and United Nations forces, the War tentatively stopped with a ceasefire in July 1953. The US-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty was formed in October of 1953 to give South Korea security guarantees from the US after South Korea was weakened as a result of the tragic Korean War, since North Korea still threatened to invade and reunify the peninsula. This peace treaty allowed South Korea to rebuild with less threat of another invasion.
During the Cold War, South Korea’s fear of US abandonment became apparent. President Nixon decided to relocate a majority of the US Forces Korea (USFK) stationed in South Korea to Vietnam to aid the ongoing war effort there, raising concerns about US dedication to protecting South Korean. US Troops in South Korea continued to decrease after the Cold War under the 1990 Strategic Framework for the Asian Pacific Rim, known as the East Asian Strategic Initiative (EASI). EASI increased the United States’ relationship with East Asia and Japan mostly through heightened military ties. Tensions began to rise even more in the early 1990s as North Korea began to increase and exhibit its military capabilities and presence on the international stage. During this time, USFK remained in Seoul under the original US-ROK alliance in their largest and main base, Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul.
Present Day Consequences
South Korea and Japan normalized relations in 1965, but despite this “friendship” treaty, they still have a lot of tensions stemming from Japanese Colonial rule over Korea. Before 1965, Japan and South Korea mainly cooperated with each other indirectly through their separate “hub and spoke” alliances with the US. This is important because these two alliances (plus Taiwan) are a strategic way the US can counter Chinese influence in the region today.
US Treaties with Asian allies have become increasingly important with the rise of a nuclear North Korea and an assertive Chinese stance. Furthermore, to this day the United States continues to maintain a large physical military presence in Japan and South Korea. The United States currently has 55,000 troops and over 80 military facilities stationed in Japan, more than in any other foreign country, and 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea. Additionally, due to the treaties the US has with Japan and South Korea, if war broke out in either of these countries, the US would be drawn into war, making these security agreements hugely consequential.
