Xavier Brunson, the commander of United States Forces Korea, recently appeared on a podcast and said that from China's strategic perspective, Korea could look like a "dagger."
According to the U.S. Army War College website on the 26th (local time), Commander Brunson said on a podcast the school hosted on the 22nd that "when China looks from its eastern coast, it sees Korea in the center of Asia like a dagger," adding, "Japan is a kind of shield and a defensive wall that blocks China when it tries to expand its influence beyond the South China Sea."
His likening Korea to a "dagger" is interpreted as emphasizing the strategic importance that Korea holds for the United States in checking China. At the same time, from China's standpoint, it is also read as expressing wariness toward Korea, a U.S. ally located close to China, and United States Forces Korea.
China has long argued that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system of United States Forces Korea is also a "dagger" for the United States to militarily contain China.
Brunson's latest remarks are seen as both emphasizing the necessity of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and United States Forces Korea, and indicating that the role of the alliance should expand beyond responding to North Korea to include checking China.
In particular, in line with the "alliance modernization" policy emphasized during the second Donald Trump administration, the comments appear to highlight that the roles of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and United States Forces Korea are important not only for deterring North Korea but also for checking China.
Commander Brunson has repeatedly mentioned the alliance's role in checking China. In May last year, he assessed Korea's geopolitical position as "an island floating between Japan and mainland China and like a fixed aircraft carrier."