Amid uncertainty about how President Trump will handle rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Vice President Mike Pence has spent the past week calming nerves and outlining the administration’s policies during a low-profile tour of the region that ultimately shed light on how the president plans to engage with the Asia Pacific.
In Seoul, Tokyo, Jakarta and Sydney, Pence has quietly assured allies of the Trump administration’s commitment to security in the face of threats from an aggressive North Korea while touting U.S. economic relationships in the Asia Pacific.
Pence has conducted a series of traditional diplomatic engagements during his debut trip abroad, striking a contrast with a president whose foreign policy approach is shaping up to be anything but traditional.
And in doing so, Pence has helped observers around the world gain insight into Trump’s thinking, given that Trump has wielded his unpredictability in North Korea and elsewhere as a strategic tool.
For example, on the first leg of his 10-day tour, Pence told an audience of U.S. troops in South Korea that the administration’s aim was to “ensure the objective of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.”
Pence revealed that Trump would prefer to “achieve that objective through peaceable means, through negotiations.” It was a signal that Washington would consider opening the lines of communication with Pyongyang to avoid a military confrontation, although Pence repeated Trump’s oft-stated line that “all options are on the table.”
After traveling to Japan and meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Pence announced the U.S. would soon “strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific” and noted that “Japan will assume a larger role and responsibility in our alliance in the years ahead.”
The White House has already highlighted the movement of the USS Carl Vinson, a carrier strike group, into the waters near North Korea. But the assurance from Pence that the U.S. would soon build up its military presence in the area provided more context to Trump’s strategy, and the prediction that Japan would soon take more responsibility for regional security fit with the president’s campaign promise to make other countries fund more of their own defenses.
The vice president also filled in some blanks associated with Trump’s economic and refugee policies.
In Australia, Pence acknowledged that the U.S. would honor a refugee deal struck by the Obama administration that Trump had previously called “dumb” before promising to review it. The agreement will allow the roughly 1,200 refugees who are currently staying on islands off the Australian coast to be resettled in the U.S. if they clear vetting requirements.
And Pence previewed coming trade negotiations in the region, as Trump has expressed interest in striking a series of bilateral agreements throughout Southeast Asia rather than commit to a deal that binds the U.S. to unwieldy multilateral terms.
For example, at a joint appearance in Jakarta with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the vice president announced that he and Trump “seek to expand the United States’ commercial relationship with Indonesia.”
But Pence, Trump’s most high-profile liaison to Capitol Hill, cut his visit short by one day ahead of contentious spending, healthcare and tax reform talks in Congress this week. He planned to return from Hawaii Monday rather than extend his stay for a planned visit to the USS Arizona Memorial.
Beyond the aggressive diplomatic schedule, Pence’s trip had included a number of symbolic cultural engagements, such as a visit to Indonesia’s Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, and a boat ride around the iconic Sydney Opera House in Australia. Coming at a time of intense regional uncertainty, the trip was a quiet reminder of the U.S. commitment to allies, and a demonstration of Pence’s value as a spokesman for the administration.
