What is the top priority of the new US President?

(Baonghean.vn) - A former member of the European Commission in charge of foreign affairs recently said that the two most important issues that the next US president should focus on are curbing North Korea's nuclear missile capabilities and responding to calls for isolationism that fueled the rise of Donald Trump.

According to Chris Patten, North Korea is getting closer to its goal of developing nuclear and missile capabilities. Photo: Internet.

Chris Patten, who served as foreign policy chief for the European Commission from 1999 to 2004 and is now chancellor of Oxford University, made the comments in an article for Project Syndicate, saying that the nuclear weapons threat from North Korea is the most worrying.

“The Kim Jong-un regime not only possesses nuclear weapons, but is also developing the capability to deliver them on long-range missiles. Recent nuclear and long-range missile tests – including its largest nuclear test last month – suggest it is very close to achieving that goal,” Patten said.

Patten said the US must do more to persuade China to rein in North Korea. “Chinese officials still insist they cannot control North Korea. To some extent, that may be true. But clearly no one has more influence in Pyongyang than the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.

He said that “some benefits” should be offered in exchange for China exercising influence over North Korea. Such concessions could include “a modest shift” in the US approach to China’s illegal claims in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

“This is certainly not popular, especially among China’s neighbors,” he added. “But it may also be necessary to contain the North Korean nuclear threat. Defusing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions may be worth the trade-off.”

Isolationism fueled the rise of candidate Donald Trump. Photo: Internet.

Patten also expressed concern about growing isolationism in the United States.

“The United States, like some European countries, is now at risk of entering a period of closed-mindedness and closed borders. While a more moderate candidate like Hillary Clinton may defeat the reckless isolationist Donald Trump, the backlash to openness that fueled Trump’s rise will not go away on its own,” he said.

Addressing the grievances that have stirred up the anti-openness backlash should be a priority for the new US president, to restore the country's image as a land of opportunity, something that has been crucial to America's soft power in the past, Patten said.

Phu Binh

(According to Yonhap)