reporter2
28-09-21, 12:22
US pivot to Asia should promote cooperation, and include joining CPTPP
Sep 28, 2021
ALL eyes now seem to be on the American strategic pivot to the Indo-Pacific region. First came the news about growing cooperation between the US, the UK and Australia in the form of a new military pact, Aukus, involving the sale of nuclear-powered submarines.
Then on Friday US President Joe Biden held the first in-person meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, better known as "the Quad", an informal strategic forum of the US, Australia, Japan, and India - democratic countries with vested interests in countering the China surge in Asia. President Biden was joined at the White House in Washington, DC, by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Indian leader Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for a two-hour meeting during which they stressed their goal of "promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion, to bolster security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond". "We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values and territorial integrity of states," the four leaders said in a statement that seemed to be directed at China, although China wasn't specifically mentioned.
The Quad has morphed into top-level strategic cooperation on security, tech, and the global economy by four governments who have taken an increasingly more combative view of China' growing assertiveness in the region, and have called for maintaining the maritime rules-based order in the East and South China Sea.
Moreover, the Quad, like the Aukus pact, signifies the continuing shift of America's geo-strategic and geo-economic focus to the Indo-Pacific region, a development that has been welcomed by America's partners in the region. They would like to see the US serving as a counter-balance to China's influence and cementing its leadership position there, and thus countering the worrisome signs of rising isolationism and protectionism in Washington.
Yet these same regional partners, including the members of the Association of South-East Nation (Asean), are less than enthusiastic about the notion that the US pivot to Asia could accelerate tensions between Beijing and Washington and transform the Indo-Pacific into a central arena for an evolving new Cold War between these two superpowers.
From that perspective, the US should resist the pressure coming from military hawks in Washington, and from Japan, who want to turn the Quad into a military alliance, an Indo-Pacific version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), and to challenge Beijing over core national security issues, including the future of Taiwan - an approach that could risk a military confrontation with China. India and South Korea, and other pro-US governments in the region, would prefer to see the Quad evolving into a multilateral grouping that focuses on areas of cooperation, and that could potentially involve China.
Hence Friday's decision by the Quad to move ahead on a joint plan to provide Covid-19 vaccines around Asia and their pledge to "decarbonise at pace" and "keep climate goals within reach" should be welcomed as part of a more cooperative approach.
Moreover, the time has come for the US to reassess its early decision not to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the trade and investment pact negotiated by the Obama administration. The Biden team should now look into joining the successor to the TPP, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This would allow Washington to employ its economic power to help set global trade and investment rules, and affirm its leadership position in the region.
Sep 28, 2021
ALL eyes now seem to be on the American strategic pivot to the Indo-Pacific region. First came the news about growing cooperation between the US, the UK and Australia in the form of a new military pact, Aukus, involving the sale of nuclear-powered submarines.
Then on Friday US President Joe Biden held the first in-person meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, better known as "the Quad", an informal strategic forum of the US, Australia, Japan, and India - democratic countries with vested interests in countering the China surge in Asia. President Biden was joined at the White House in Washington, DC, by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Indian leader Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for a two-hour meeting during which they stressed their goal of "promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion, to bolster security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond". "We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values and territorial integrity of states," the four leaders said in a statement that seemed to be directed at China, although China wasn't specifically mentioned.
The Quad has morphed into top-level strategic cooperation on security, tech, and the global economy by four governments who have taken an increasingly more combative view of China' growing assertiveness in the region, and have called for maintaining the maritime rules-based order in the East and South China Sea.
Moreover, the Quad, like the Aukus pact, signifies the continuing shift of America's geo-strategic and geo-economic focus to the Indo-Pacific region, a development that has been welcomed by America's partners in the region. They would like to see the US serving as a counter-balance to China's influence and cementing its leadership position there, and thus countering the worrisome signs of rising isolationism and protectionism in Washington.
Yet these same regional partners, including the members of the Association of South-East Nation (Asean), are less than enthusiastic about the notion that the US pivot to Asia could accelerate tensions between Beijing and Washington and transform the Indo-Pacific into a central arena for an evolving new Cold War between these two superpowers.
From that perspective, the US should resist the pressure coming from military hawks in Washington, and from Japan, who want to turn the Quad into a military alliance, an Indo-Pacific version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), and to challenge Beijing over core national security issues, including the future of Taiwan - an approach that could risk a military confrontation with China. India and South Korea, and other pro-US governments in the region, would prefer to see the Quad evolving into a multilateral grouping that focuses on areas of cooperation, and that could potentially involve China.
Hence Friday's decision by the Quad to move ahead on a joint plan to provide Covid-19 vaccines around Asia and their pledge to "decarbonise at pace" and "keep climate goals within reach" should be welcomed as part of a more cooperative approach.
Moreover, the time has come for the US to reassess its early decision not to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the trade and investment pact negotiated by the Obama administration. The Biden team should now look into joining the successor to the TPP, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This would allow Washington to employ its economic power to help set global trade and investment rules, and affirm its leadership position in the region.