Bloomberg News Agency published an article on December 1 that the risk facing the United States is that the situation in Asia is similar to that it faces in the Middle East: pouring blood, sweat and wealth into a place it cannot shape; feeling dissatisfied but weak; and bearing the responsibility of allies’ own inability. To solve the responsibility of regional confrontation. The full text is excerpted as follows:
In contrast to President Trump, who is outspokenly confronting China and despising the Friends of the United States, President-elect Biden’s expected Secretary of State, Anthony Blink, has long regarded alliances and the rules-based international order as the most effective ways to promote American interests. “We need to unite our allies and partners, not alienate them, to meet some of the challenges posed by China,” he said in July in an interview with the Hudson Institute, a think tank.
Blinkin’s logic is very simple. The United States will not be able to compete with such a rising power for a long time. If there are a group of allies, the situation may be completely different.
Australia is a very firm ally of the United States, but almost all countries in the region regard China as a more important trading partner. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at a meeting of Bloomberg Innovation Economy Forum that few governments are willing to join the anti-China alliance.
James Crabtree, an expert at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore, said, “Some Asian countries want the United States to be very tough on China, but others want the United States to stop showing off its power and telling everyone what to do. It will be very difficult to satisfy both camps.
Blinkin was one of the architects of President Obama’s return to Asia policy, but people now have different views on the policy. In the eyes of many people in Beijing, this is a strategic siege attempt that Washington cannot carry out due to insufficient military preparation. As an economic dimension of this policy, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) finally ended without the United States as a member. Re-joining the organization should be a priority, but politically speaking, it may not succeed in Congress. The China-centric Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) recently signed may prove to be a more important organization.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration’s attempt to train China as a partner on issues such as climate, North Korea and Iran means it has to take a reconciliatory gesture — a gesture that sometimes leaves America’s allies in the region feeling abandoned.
The risk facing the United States is that the situation in Asia is similar to that it faces in the Middle East: to pour blood, sweat and wealth into a place it cannot shape; to feel dissatisfied but weak; and to assume the responsibility of the allies’ own inability to solve regional confrontation. The United States must work hard to ensure that this is not its destiny in Asia.
