be more fully onboard

[chchkevin]

Hi

This is a Japanese professor Taniguchi's remarks when he talked about the sovereignty dispute on an island. Could you help me understand the underlined sentence?


Taniguchi says the South Korean-Japanese territorial dispute is distracting the two neighbors from the coming challenges of a rising China.
"Now is the time for the Korean government and the Japanese government to invest or re-invest into scaling up their relationships because the security equation in this part of the world is changing very fast. And the United States wants Korea to be more fully onboard and they also want Japan to be more fully onboard,"

Regards
chchkevin

[TheParser]

Hi

This is a Japanese professor Taniguchi's remarks when he talked about the sovereignty dispute on an island. Could you help me understand the underlined sentence?


Taniguchi says the South Korean-Japanese territorial dispute is distracting the two neighbors from the coming challenges of a rising China.
"Now is the time for the Korean government and the Japanese government to invest or re-invest into scaling up their relationships because the security equation in this part of the world is changing very fast. And the United States wants Korea to be more fully onboard and they also want Japan to be more fully onboard,"

Regards
chchkevin

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) I am NOT a great reader, but this is my interpretation:

(a) "The security equation in this part of the world is changing very fast" =

Nice words for "China is starting to become too aggressive, in the opinion of many countries."



(b) The U.S.A. wants both South Korea and Japan to be more fully onboard" =

The United States does not want South Korea and Japan wasting their time and

efforts in arguing over Korean-Japanese relations. The United States wants Korea and

Japan to fully join the United States (and other nations) in designing a unified

approach to the big question: what can be done to deal with (in some people's

opinion) a growing Chinese aggressiveness.

(2) My dictionary tells me that "onboard" means "aboard." For example, when

Americans used passenger trains, the conductor would yell "All aboard!!!" That is,

get on the train. It is going to leave the station. So the United States wants Korea and

Japan to get on the "Let's decide how to handle China" train. Maybe Korea and Japan

do not want to completely "get on the train" because (a) Korea and Japan are arguing

over certain things, and (b) Both Korea and Japan do not want to anger China (which

is, of course, an important neighbor). But the United States, which gives a lot of

help to Korea and Japan, expects those two countries to join the United States (and

other countries) with more enthusiasm in designing a policy to deal with the

People's Republic of China. In other words, while Korea and Japan are arguing

over certain matters, they cannot give their whole attention to the bigger issue of'

China's actions. Get onboard the train completely. Not just one foot. Your whole

body. Your whole soul. Give all of your attention to this train ride.

[chchkevin]

Thanks for your help!

Now I know that a Japanese points out the importance of the two countries' relationship for more serious issue with China.

That's great.