Close US Military Bases in Asia: Jeffrey Sachs

President Donald Trump is complaining that US military bases in Asia are too costly for the country, and Japan and Korea should pay for them. Commenting on this on his Substack –Savage Minds – American economist and Columbia University professor Jeffrey D Sachs writes, “Here’s a much better idea: close the bases and return the US servicemen to the US.”

According to Sachs, the US purpose of stationing 50,000 troops in Japan and nearly 30,000 in Korea are not for protecting these countries but for force projection in the region. The only times in the last 1,000 year of Chinese history that China invaded Japan was when the Mongols ruled China briefly, about 700-750 years back.  Japan has a longer and a recent history of invading China.

He further writers that “In 1894-5, Japan invaded and defeated China in the Sino-Japanese war, taking Taiwan as a Japanese colony. In 1931, Japan invaded northeast China (Manchuria) and created the Japanese colony of Manchukuo. In 1937, Japan invaded China, starting World War II in the Pacific region.”

Today nobody believes Japan will invade China. The same is true of China and Korea. During the past 1,000 years, China never invaded Korea, except on one occasion: when the US threatened to attack China.

Sachs writes, “China entered the war in late 1950 on the side of North Korea to fight the US troops advancing northward towards the Chinese border. At the time, US General Douglas MacArthur recklessly recommended attacking China with atomic bombs. MacArthur also proposed to support Chinese nationalist forces, then based in Taiwan, to invade the Chinese mainland. President Harry Truman, thank God, rejected MacArthur’s recommendations.”

Sachs believes that any protection that South Korea needs against North Korea, to be sure, can be achieved far more effectively and credibly through a regional security system, including China, Japan, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, than through the presence of the US…” As he says, “In fact, the US military bases in East Asia are really for the US projection of power, not for the defence of Japan or Korea. This is even more reason why they should be removed.” …

He writes, “The best strategy for the superpowers is to stay out of each other’s lanes...Trump is looking for ways to save money—an excellent idea given that the US federal budget is haemorrhaging 2 trillion dollars a year, more than 6% of US GDP. Closing the US overseas military bases would be an excellent place to start.”

“….with America’s 750 or so overseas military bases in around 80 countries, it’s high time to close these bases, pocket the saving, and return to diplomacy…“You keep your military bases out of our neighbourhood, and we’ll keep our military bases out of yours. Basic reciprocity among the major powers would save trillions of dollars of military outlays over the coming decade and, more importantly, would push the Doomsday Clock back from 89 seconds to nuclear Armageddon,” writes Sachs.