Indo-Pacific strategy unpopular in ASEAN
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo began his visit to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia with a plan to invest $113 million in the Indo-Pacific region. His goal is clearly to win Southeast Asia’s support to US IndoPacific strategy. But what he will face is suspicion from regional countries and their polite yet cautious responses.
What is the Indo-Pacific strategy? Many complain about its vagueness. Its most innovative part may be the name itself. Washington probably hopes the rest of the world would stop asking questions, tacitly understand Washington’s intentions and firmly gather around the US after a few exchanges of glances and together begin to counter China’s rising influence.
ASEAN countries still welcome the US in the region, especially US influence in regional security affairs. They want to see China and the US balance their strengths in the region to best facilitate ASEAN’s growth and that both countries compete to win ASEAN members’ hearts.
However, what ASEAN saw was the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the TransPacific Partnership, which the US had already agreed to, and the White House’s full-blown trade war. ASEAN members are worried about being caught in the crosshair or hit by Trump’s trade tariff “bullets.”
ASEAN’s worst nightmare is being forced to choose sides between China and the US. Once that occurs, ASEAN’s geopolitical advantage will immediately turn sour as ASEAN members will be involved in major country conflicts that they desperately want to avoid. Their current merits will be lost and many smaller countries will have to face unbearable strategic uncertainties.
ASEAN members are not sure what the US Indo-Pacific strategy entails. The US announced only an investment of $113 million, which also includes India. The amount seems only sufficient to build an overpass perhaps in the center of Mumbai. Washington is using a strategic gimmick. It is insincere about pushing forward economic prosperity of Indo-Pacific region. What it wants is something else.
As a concept, Indo-Pacific strategy generated some media and psychological impact. But this is perhaps the only points it can score.
This is not the era where geopolitics rules all. The US has treated China’s Belt and Road initiative, which focuses on mutually beneficial cooperation, as strategic expansion, and is trying to prohibit Asia from marching forward through connectivity. Washington’s move is against historic tide.
Indo-Pacific strategy should be consecrated as the “best geopolitical jargon.” If it is used to counter China’s strategy in the ASEAN, the US will find out that it has no supernatural power and that it will bump into an invisible wall.