President Trump is regularly derided as a diplomatic wrecking ball. Sometimes that’s a fair criticism, sometimes it’s not. But Trump just concluded a crucial diplomatic win in the West Pacific Ocean.
As Reuters reports, the U.S., Indian, Japanese, and Philippine navies on Wednesday finished joint exercises in the South China Sea. It’s a resolute riposte to China’s escalating intimidation toward the Philippines in the South China Sea, Japan in the East China Sea, and India in the Indian Ocean. Yet there are two specific fruits from this joint show of force.
First, it shows China that its aggression against individual nations is sparking an alliance of many nations. And that alliance undercuts China’s economic imperialist strategy. Second, the alliance brings more military capabilities to bear, deterring Beijing from aggressive military actions.
The nature of the vessels deployed in this exercise is also important.
The inclusion of one of India’s best warships, the Kolkata, reflects New Dehli’s growing concern over Chinese threats to its oceanic interests. And under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has closely but carefully aligned itself with America’s growing military posture in the Pacific.
Similarly, Japan deployed one of its helicopter carriers. That matters because its helicopter carriers will soon become de facto aircraft carriers when, as with their U.S. counterpart vessels, they are equipped with F-35B fighter jets. That will give Japan much greater means to support the U.S. military in any future conflict with China or Russia. Yes, the carriers would have to maintain distance from Chinese anti-ship missile strongholds. But they would also challenge China’s threat to Japanese territory and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s resupply access. It is thus no surprise, as Japanese media reports, that President Trump will visit one of the carriers with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later this month.
Trump gets plenty of criticism over his diplomatic stance. But these exercises show that confronting the most significant threat to geopolitical order in the 21st century, Trump is building alliances to win.
(Jennifer Rubin should pay note.)
