Opinion | Whether Trump wins or loses the election, the Asia-Pacific needs a democratic defence against China

US President Donald Trump has stress-tested US alliances with his transactional approach to foreign policy. As China seeks to reshape the world order, the US and its democratic allies must actively uphold their values in the region

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 3:00am, 17 Feb 2020Updated: 7:43am, 17 Feb 2020

The future of US engagement in the Asia-Pacific at times feels like it turns on the re-election or defeat of Donald Trump. But America’s policy in Asia will be shaped by questions that extend far beyond the outcome of the presidential election in November 2020.

Many of these questions revolve around China. How will the United States adjust to a world in which it is no longer the only dominant global power? Can the region change with it?

Over the past decade, US policies – from the “pivot to Asia” to the “free and open Indo-Pacific” – have recognised the region’s importance to the security of its citizens and allies. These policies aim to promote US interests and values, including the rule of law, freedom of navigation, economic opportunity and the universal rights of all peoples.

However, China’s military modernisation, combined with its assertive territorial strategy, is challenging US primacy. Meanwhile, its historic growth over the past two decades has made it the primary economic force in the region.

China is the largest trading partner of Asean and of key US allies including Australia. Washington – hobbled by its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and its lack of a substitute regional economic vision – has retreated at the precise moment China is surging.

Its self-wounding trade war with Beijing, coupled with trade spats with Brussels and Seoul, has divided it from the very partners it needs to marshal collective pressure on China.

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