As Vice President Mike Pence heads to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this week, Washington’s hawkish posture toward China is once again being scrutinized. In fact, an underappreciated feature of the Trump administration’s uneven foreign policy is its new Indo-Pacific strategy.

President Barack Obama’s previous attempt to “pivot” to Asia underdelivered: China militarized the South China Sea, North Korea accelerated nuclear and missile development, and Burma’s democratic opening gave way to brutal ethnic cleansing of Rohingya civilians.