Opinion | Asia faces stark choices as the Kim-Putin bromance blossoms

The bromance between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is deepening. Kim’s recent trip to the space port at the vast Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East was a tactical Russian invitation guaranteed to annoy the US.

Russia’s scheduling was perfect: the meeting came after it hosted the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, which Kim attended, and the G20 summit in New Delhi, which Putin skipped.

On this rare foreign trip, Kim made an unequivocal declaration of North Korean support for Russia’s stance against the West, calling it a “sacred fight” against “hegemonic forces”. Kim also said relations with Russia would be his “number one priority”. Putin responded that “an old friend is better than two new ones”.

Moscow was telegraphing the formation of a new Northeast Asian grouping of Russia, China and North Korea, which would be part of a multipolar, economically integrated region. Its military power threatens US bases in South Korea, Okinawa in Japan, Guam, the Philippines and Hawaii, especially if war were to break out over Taiwan and the US or Nato sought to turn it into a regional conflict.

The bloc challenges that of the United States, Japan and South Korea. It also compliments the grouping of Russia, China and Iran in West Asia, whose members are part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Brics. It will force a recalibration of US moves in the Western Pacific and South China Sea.