Nuclear Showdown Looms: US Senate Unveils Bill to Counter Rising Global Competition, Eyes Deployment of Nuclear Assets
A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate that contains comprehensive measures to protect the security and economic interests of the U.S. and its allies in the strategic competition with China. The bill is notable for including a provision requiring consideration of the deployment of U.S. nuclear assets and restoration of nuclear infrastructure in the region. Reporter Lee Jo-eun reports.
James Risch, Republican U.S. Senator.
Eleven leading Republican senators, including Senator James Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, co-sponsored the STRATEGIC Act on the 19th, which contains practical measures necessary to successfully compete with China.
It is a wide-ranging bill that takes necessary measures across all areas, including foreign policy, security, and economics, to ensure that the United States and its allies and partners can succeed in competing with China.
In particular, the bill includes provisions to reorganize military cooperation between the United States and South Korea to strengthen deterrence of expansion on the Korean Peninsula and to strengthen strategies to respond to North Korea’s nuclear threat.
The bill states that “the United States’ extended deterrence commitment to South Korea is not commensurate with the nuclear and strategic threats in East Asia, particularly those posed by North Korea.”
[법안] “United States extended deterrence commitments to South Korea have failed to keep pace with the nuclear and strategic threats in East Asia, in particular those posed by North Korea.
Meanwhile, the US-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), which was launched last year, was born out of the recognition that existing consultative bodies on extended deterrence between the two countries had not achieved sufficient results, and presented specific measures for the effective operation of the NCG.
In particular, for the NCG to be more effective than past consultative bodies, it stated that it “must adopt a work program that encompasses the need to rebalance the U.S. defense posture in the Korean theater of operations,” and that “this should include consideration of how to deploy U.S. nuclear assets and restore nuclear infrastructure in the region.”
U.S. nuclear assets include not only nuclear weapons but also all the military support and systems needed to operate and maintain them.
[법안] “The NCG must adopt a program of work embracing the need— (A) to adjust the United States defense posture in the Korean theater of operations to include consideration of deploying United States nuclear assets and restoring United States nuclear infrastructure in the region; (B) to establish a crisis consultation mechanism to be convened in response to North Korean nuclear threats and consult on alliance deterrence related decision-making; (D) to explore options to increase South Korean contributions to operations related to nuclear burden sharing.”
The bill also emphasized that “a work program should be adopted that includes the need to establish a ‘crisis consultation mechanism’ to respond to the nuclear threat from North Korea,” which would allow the U.S. and South Korea to more closely coordinate decisions regarding nuclear deterrence.
It also recommended exploring ways to increase South Korea’s contribution to operations related to nuclear burden sharing.
The bill would require the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress, within 90 days of enactment, a report on the composition and scope of the NCG, including its relationship to existing consultative bodies, to ensure the effective operation of the NCG.
In addition, the NCG meeting results were reported to the Congress every 180 days to ensure continuous monitoring of the nuclear deterrence strategies of the two countries, the U.S. and South Korea.
Rep. Risch, who introduced this bill, said on the 29th of last month in response to VOA’s request for comment on the Biden administration’s new nuclear weapons strategy that the U.S. nuclear posture should be adjusted to the growing nuclear threats from China, Russia, and North Korea, and that “we should consider redeploying nuclear weapons to the Pacific theater to strengthen extended deterrence.”
“Our East Asian allies are concerned not only about China and Russia, but also about North Korea, which is rapidly expanding and diversifying its nuclear arsenal,” Rep. Risch said. “North Korea has blatantly adopted a policy of preemptive nuclear strike.”
[리시 의원] “Our East Asian allies not only worry about China and Russia, but a North Korea that is rapidly increasing and diversifying its nuclear arsenal. North Korea has explicitly adopted a nuclear first use policy…We should increase the size of our nuclear forces to reassert deterrence and reassure our allies. Additionally, we should explore options for returning nuclear weapons to the Pacific theater for the purpose of strengthening extended deterrence. Deepening discussions with our allies about this should not be a taboo.”
He continued, “We must increase the size of our nuclear force to reaffirm our deterrence and reassure our allies,” and “We must explore options to redeploy nuclear weapons to the Pacific theater to strengthen our extended deterrence.”
Jack Reed, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee
Regarding this, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed expressed a negative stance on the issue of the US redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the Indo-Pacific region, which has been continuously raised in the US and South Korea recently.
[녹취: 리드 위원장] “No not at all. First of all, one has to recall that when the United States deployed a defensive weapon, the THAAD missile, there was a significant and extremely large reaction by China because they saw that as a threat to China even though these were defensive systems, they imposed economic sanctions on Korea, which were very significant and that was something based on a real tactical need. We need to defend South Korea against missiles, drones, et cetera. To introduce tactical nuclear weapons would probably provoke another major response from the Chinese because they would see it as a provocation.”
In a conference call today to wrap up his recent trip to Guam, South Korea, and the Philippines, Vice Chairman Reid responded to VOA’s question of whether his recent review of the military posture in the Indo-Pacific region suggests a need to redeploy U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in the region by saying, “Absolutely not.”
The Biden administration has repeatedly stated its security stance to focus on providing extended deterrence rather than redeploying nuclear weapons in the region.
A State Department spokesperson told VOA on the 5th regarding Rep. Risch’s proposal to redeploy nuclear weapons to the Pacific theater, “We believe that the only effective way to reduce the nuclear threat on the Korean Peninsula is to deter nuclear proliferation.”
[국무부 대변인] “The United States and the ROK continue to pursue the shared objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We believe that the only effective way to reduce nuclear threats on the Peninsula is by curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.”
He also stressed that “the United States and South Korea will continue to work together to strengthen extended deterrence in the face of North Korea’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric regarding its nuclear weapons program.”
David Maxwell, Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy. Photo = Center for Asia Pacific Strategy.
In this regard, David Maxwell, deputy director of the Asia-Pacific Strategy Center and former operations chief of staff for the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, told VOA that the extended deterrence provided by the US is “sufficient” to deter North Korea, but emphasized that the US must always adjust its force posture and reevaluate the situation in accordance with the changing security environment.
[녹취:맥스웰 부대표] “I think extended deterrence is sufficient, but we always have to be adapting. We have to be assessing the conditions.”
There are also those who argue that a more flexible nuclear weapons deployment plan is needed than is currently in place, even if it does not involve redeploying nuclear weapons within the region.
Bruce Bennett, Senior Researcher, RAND Corporation.
Bruce Bennett, a senior fellow at the Rand Corporation, recently told VOA, “One of the first things the United States needs to do is to be able to plan flexibly for nuclear weapons in the region so that they can respond immediately if China or someone else attacks.”
[녹취: 베넷 선임연구원] “Well, I think one of the first things the US needs to do that the US has been assuming that we can have our nuclear weapons planned flexibly in the region so that if China attacks, we can respond to them. We likely need to dedicate forces to those things, at least some baseline of force so that we can tell China and Russia and North Korea if you guys attack together, we’ve still got you covered.”
He went on to emphasize that more response capabilities should be deployed in the region than they are now, so that it can clearly be shown that a swift response can be made even if North Korea, China, and Russia attack together.
VOA has requested comment from the State Department regarding the bill’s criticism that existing consultative bodies on extended deterrence have not been successful and is awaiting a response.
To strengthen cooperation between allies on extended deterrence, the United States and South Korea established the Extended Deterrence Policy Committee (EDPC) and the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) in 2010 and 2016, respectively.
Christopher Johnston, Japan Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Christopher Johnston, a former director for East Asia on the White House National Security Council (NSC) in the Biden administration and Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told VOA that “extended deterrence against South Korea is currently working well.”
[존스톤 석좌] “While North Korea’s advancing weapons programs are clearly a concern, the Biden administration has been clear that any use of nuclear weapons against the United States or its allies would result in the end of the North Korean regime. This commitment continues to deter North Korean nuclear use, and other steps that the United States, South Korea, and Japan have taken—including deepening trilateral cooperation—have more broadly reinforced deterrence against North Korean aggression.”
“The Biden administration has made clear that any use of nuclear weapons against the United States or its allies will result in the demise of the North Korean regime,” Johnston said. “That commitment still deters North Korea from using nuclear weapons, and other steps taken by the United States, South Korea, and Japan, particularly deepening cooperation among the three countries, have served to further strengthen deterrence against North Korean aggression.”
Meanwhile, this popular bill includes measures to respond to threats from China in the security and economic sectors, such as strengthening supply chain security through approval of projects related to strategic infrastructure such as energy, and revising the missile technology control system to block the proliferation of Chinese military technology in order to strengthen cooperation with the Ocus, a security consultative body between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
In addition, as a measure to strengthen monitoring and control of missile technology cooperation among China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, the bill includes a provision requiring the Secretary of State to submit a report to Congress within 90 days of the bill’s enactment that includes a detailed description and assessment of missile technology cooperation among these countries.
“This bill takes a firm stance to protect the interests of the United States and its allies and provides actionable provisions that will help us in our strategic competition with China,” Rep. Risch said in a press release on the same day. “Now is the time to put policy into action.”
[리시 의원] “This legislation takes strong positions to safeguard U.S. and allied interests and provides actionable provisions that will help us in our strategic competition with China…it is time to start implementing policies.”
This is Lee Jo-eun from VOA News.