February 15, 2017
North Korea to Donald Trump: Challenge Accepted
The exclusive, members-only Mar-a-Lago Club is accustomed to keeping out riffraff, but not even Donald Trump’s private retreat fortified by Secret Service agents could prevent Kim Jong-un from intruding upon his golf-diplomacy summit with Shinzo Abe. Test firing a nuclear-capable missile into the Sea of Japan provides a type of admission, albeit a very expensive and unwelcome one.
The test also interrupted forty-eight hours of hugely successful Asia diplomacy for the Trump administration. It abruptly changed the conversation from an invigorated U.S.-Japan alliance and a stabilized U.S.-China relationship. Thus, less than a month into a hugger-mugger transition of power, President Trump’s besieged and revolving national-security team could be forgiven if North Korea’s missile launch—followed by the reported poisoning of Kim Jong-un’s half brother—made some recall Henry Kissinger’s quip that “there cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.”
Kim was counting on creating a crisis for the fledgling Trump administration. By firing a mobile, solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) from an air base near the northwest frontier with China, Kim maximized the element of surprise to ensure intelligence agencies had none of the early-warning signals that would attend a fixed-site, liquid-fuel launch. Kim also chose the moment to provide sharp contrast between his thrusting missile capabilities and the no longer de-stressing leaders of the region’s strongest alliance.
Read the full article at The National Interest.
More from CNAS
-
Podcast
Indo-Pacific Security / Middle East Security
Why Trump’s Efforts to Force Iran to Concede to U.S. Demands Aren’t Working"So far, there has been no combination of carrots and sticks that has brought Iran to the terms that the Americans want. And if the idea is that, at some point soon, Iran will...
By Richard Fontaine
-
Is the Quad Fracturing as U.S. Priorities Shift?
Podcast
The Quad was meant to anchor stability in the Indo-Pacific—a way for the United States, India, Japan, and Australia to stay aligned in a rapidly changing region. But shifting ...
By Derek Grossman
-
How the War with Iran Is Shaping U.S.-Chinese Competition
Commentary
The war also gives Beijing an opportunity to court developing countries....
By Jacob Stokes
-
CNAS Insights
Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
CNAS Insights | Trump Should Talk to Xi About Military AIWhen President Donald Trump goes to China to meet with General Secretary Xi Jinping next month, the leaders of the world’s two superpowers will have much to discuss, with trad...
By Jacob Stokes & Daniel Remler
