The White House is trying to demonstrate its commitment to Asia as other foreign policy flaps keep eclipsing the region, most recently Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But as President Joe Biden prepares for his highly anticipated first in-person summit with the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders, the White House is being more diplomatic regarding the region’s importance to the United States in order to avoid rankling European allies again.
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Biden has to underscore Asia’s significance to U.S. foreign policy during Friday’s U.S.-ASEAN special summit after “uneven U.S. engagement over the last five years,” according to American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Zack Cooper. The meeting itself was postponed in March, with chair Cambodia citing a scheduling conflict amid the Russia-Ukraine war. It has been six years since the gathering has been convened on U.S. soil.
“This is an opportunity for Biden to get to know his Southeast Asian counterparts, which is particularly critical since he has yet to travel to the region,” Cooper, a former National Security Council and Pentagon official, told the Washington Examiner.
Biden’s attempts to prioritize U.S.-Asia foreign policy as China poses military threats to Taiwan and in the South China Sea, in addition to undermining U.S. economic dominance, was first derailed last summer by his deadly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. He then ruffled European feathers with his botched announcement of a new nuclear submarine deal with Australia and the United Kingdom, which scuttled an Australia-France accord and stepped on the rollout of NATO’s own Asia plan.
David Feith, a onetime deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs now with the Center for a New American Security and the Vandenberg Coalition, stressed that China’s efforts to undercut international rules could have wide-ranging repercussions if the Chinese Communist Party succeeds.
“Some of the follow-through and substance has been slow or lacking,” he said of the Biden record. “The Indo-Pacific is the economic and demographic engine of the world.”
For Feith, it is crucial that Biden strikes a better balance between Asia and Europe because “we don’t get to choose our strategic circumstances.” He advised the president to tap more senior personnel with extensive Asia backgrounds for his team.
Biden’s Asia point man, Kurt Campbell, defended the White House’s management of Asia and Europe relations with the president’s short- and long-term foreign policy goals at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event Monday. The NSC Indo-Pacific Affairs coordinator described Russia-Ukraine tensions and China’s aggressive posture toward its neighbors as “a rare alignment,” saying many countries wanted to turn Ukraine into “a cautionary tale” for the CCP. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made similar comparisons during his weekend Victory Day speech, as did Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi last week when he spoke with U.S. equivalent Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon.
But Campbell, an Obama White House alumnus, conceded he is “aware” of administration tendencies to be “stymied or misdirected or directed towards other pursuits” when it comes to Asia. In the meantime, that trend has meant China has been able to make military and humanitarian overtures to, for example, the Solomon Islands.
“When I worked on the rebalance or pivot in the Obama administration, one of the major challenges — I would say mistakes that were made — was a sense that we were somehow pivoting away from Europe,” Campbell said. “And what has happened this time is rather than this idea that somehow we’re moving away, there is a deep sense that we are now moving and engaging together not just in Europe at the time of these enormous challenges in Ukraine but also thinking constructively about strategy and approaches to the Indo-Pacific going forward.”
CSIS research associate Andreyka Natalegawa contended Biden has and could continue assuaging Asian concerns with respect to the U.S. commitment if he can, among other actions, address ASEAN needs related to COVID-19 pandemic recovery support, as well as “sustained and comprehensive” economic pacts, at the summit. Congress has so far been reluctant to appropriate extra COVID-19 spending funding.
“Less certain is whether the administration will make any headway in economic engagement,” Natalegawa added. “ASEAN member states largely view the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework with skepticism, as the White House has signaled that increased market access is not on the table for negotiations.”
Last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki previewed Thursday’s ASEAN leader dinner and Friday’s two-hour summit as complementary events commemorating 45 years of U.S.-ASEAN cooperation. She told reporters Russia and Ukraine would “certainly” be on the agenda, as would regional security, after COVID-19 featured heavily during last October’s virtual East Asia confab. Campbell added education, infrastructure, and technology Monday.
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The ASEAN summit precedes Biden’s trip to Japan and South Korea later this month. Psaki said the visit will advance the president’s “rock-solid commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and to U.S. treaty alliances with the Republic of Korea and Japan” after both countries elected new heads of government. Biden will also talk with representatives of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue participants — Australia, India, and Japan — in Tokyo.
