For a presidential candidate who has pledged to reassert American global leadership, Mitt Romney had little to say about the rest of the world in his speech accepting the Republican Party's nomination for the White House. He aims to reinvigorate American power by starting at home, speeding up slow economic recovery and getting the jobless back to work.
When he did depart from domestic affairs, Romney did not flesh out his views on America's renewed strategic interest in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing instead on Europe and the Middle East. For a guide to regional policy we have to go to his defence white paper and the party's policy statement. The latter drew a predictable rebuke from Xinhua for reiterating support for Taiwan as a sound "democracy and economic model" for China, but also stressed opposition to unilateral action by either side to alter the status quo. Established US cross-strait policy therefore seems unlikely to be drastically altered.
On China, a pledge to adopt a "firm response" to "serious trade disputes" left plenty of room for Romney to be flexible. Sadly, this was not the time, politically, to moderate his populist pledge to declare China a "currency manipulator" on day one in office, which would risk a destructive trade war. But new administrations tend to moderate campaign rhetoric.
The white paper and the party's policy do suggest a more hawkish approach in Asia and globally. A reference to "destabilising [Chinese] claims in the South China Sea" indicates that re-engagement with the region will continue, reflecting concerns about China's rising power. The strategic relationships within Southeast Asia developed during George W. Bush's second term as president and continued under Barack Obama still have bipartisan support.
In the most important speech of his life, Romney devoted less time to foreign affairs than to trying to soften his public image as a distant, enigmatic politician who has changed his stance on a range of emotive domestic questions. If the Republicans have their way, the election will be fought on Obama's economic record and not Romney's flip-flops on health-care reform, abortion and gun control. To win the middle ground and the White House, he will have to make it clear where he stands, and convince swing voters that despite a Republican legacy of financial meltdown, Obama does not deserve a second chance to deliver on the hope and promise inspired by the election of America's first black president.
