In a meeting with ASEAN foreign ministers in Singapore last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed his counterparts to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific region to ensure peace and stability.
His gesture resonated with the direction of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) New Southbound Policy, as well as a policy speech by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Kenya in August 2016, as Pompeo called on democratic nations to safeguard a trans-Asian world order that arose from the convergence of the Indian and Pacific oceans.
This development signifies Washington’s determination to incorporate the Indian Ocean into the longstanding framework of Asia-Pacific security, and to globalize universal values, norms and institutions that underpin international governance.
The US perceives China and Russia as formidable competitors, threatening to weaken the US-led security system and globalization. China and Russia have forged strong political, economic and diplomatic partnerships to reaffirm their interests.
Since 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) have held more than 20 summits, but have revealed few details of any bilateral agreements.
While the US has been concentrating its counterterrorism efforts in central Asia and the Middle East, China and Russia have been reaching out to developing nations with appealing rhetoric about diplomatic non-intervention and authoritarian governance.
First, China has identified with Africa and Latin America, because Chinese modernization was launched from a position far inferior to that of Japan and the West. Beijing endorses the importance of labor-intensive industrial development and dismisses governance reform as a prerequisite for economic growth.
Second, the search for raw materials and new markets has driven China to deepen its ties with Africa and Latin America. Beijing has contributed to technology transfers and infrastructure projects, and has constructed and managed business zones, agro-technical parks and telecom centers in these continents.
Third, China is determined to become a global leader. It has offered unmatchable financial assistance under the Belt and Road Initiative. While investing abroad, Chinese state-owned enterprises can make long-term decisions without worrying about immediate losses and gains.
Chinese universities and research institutes offer generous scholarships to students and officials, nurturing the next generation of elites and projecting China as a land of opportunity.
China’s growing clout has presented an irresistible attraction to US allies. Given the severe challenges of a globalizing China and the US’ attempts to hold onto its status as the sole superpower, there are bound to be intense power rivalries.
Cognizant of China’s outreach, Pompeo’s Indo-Pacific strategy provides a template to reimagine US alliances in these two huge maritime zones.
Striving to promote free trade, democratic governance and innovative development, this strategy not only solidifies links among Indian and Pacific nations, but also questions China’s top-down autocratic system, which favors collective interests.
Along the same lines as the New Southbound Policy, the US’ Indo-Pacific framework expands the scope of cooperation by integrating many liberalized economies of East Asia into South and Southeast Asia.
This offers Taiwan a convenient platform from which to project itself as a regional player, reprioritizing its maritime economic strategies and collaborating with neighboring states over geopolitical and diplomatic matters.
Joseph Tse-Hei Lee is a professor of history at Pace University in New York City.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, people have been asking if Taiwan is the next Ukraine. At a G7 meeting of national leaders in January, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that Taiwan “could be the next Ukraine” if Chinese aggression is not checked. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that if Russia is not defeated, then “today, it’s Ukraine, tomorrow it can be Taiwan.” China does not like this rhetoric. Its diplomats ask people to stop saying “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow.” However, the rhetoric and stated ambition of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Taiwan shows strong parallels with