Trump is urged to include South Korea in strategic meetings about Taiwan

The incoming US administration of Donald Trump has been urged to formalise strategic consultations with South Korea and Japan concerning Taiwan, considered potentially the most dangerous flashpoint in Asia.

The request comes from the Institute for Future Strategy at Seoul National University, which regards such consultations as a way to ensure that South Korea would be included in discussions about Taiwan the US would hold with allies like Australia and Japan.

Such inclusion would also elevate trilateral cooperation among Washington, Seoul and Tokyo “into a structured mechanism for regional rule-setting and strategic dialogue”, the institute’s report, “Towards Co-Resilience”, found.

The report called on Seoul and Washington to step up consolidation efforts in strategic industries like shipbuilding as well as in advanced artificial intelligence and semiconductor technologies.

It also urged the US and South Korea to develop “a comprehensive road map” to manage the possibility of a two-front war involving the Taiwan Strait and the Korean peninsula.

“Establishing a Northeast Asian security consultative body … would integrate discussions on Taiwan, the East China Sea and North Korea, providing a more cohesive regional strategy,” the report contended.