Washington
- A few days ago, the administration of US President Joe Biden released its official strategy for the Indo-Pacific region.
And the strategy - which was abbreviated to 19 pages, and which Al-Jazeera Net viewed - warned that there was no longer only a narrow window of time left to prevent China from turning the important area for Washington into its own area of influence.
President Biden is the third US president in a row to classify Asia as a top geostrategic priority for his country, an approach that began with the "Go towards Asia" strategy during the era of former Democratic President Barack Obama, and extended to the era of former Republican President Donald Trump.
The document, the Biden administration's first regional strategy, notes the "increasing challenges" posed by China's rise as a major driver of America's "intense focus" on the Indo-Pacific region.
The document stressed that "China combines its economic, diplomatic, military and technological strength in its pursuit of a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific region, and seeks to become the most influential power in the world."
"Our collective efforts, over the next decade, will determine whether China will succeed in changing the rules and norms that have benefited the Indo-Pacific region and the world over the three decades," the document said.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Richard Russo, an expert on Asian affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, "This is a good statement of intent, as the US administration addresses topics and principles that are likely to resonate in the region. However, our partners and competitors are more interested in the practical measures that stem from of strategy.
Rousseau considered that "the positive aspect of it is continuity, as the focus on this region has withstood the major political transformations in Washington."
Part of the US military presence in the Indian Ocean (French)
The most important thing in the strategy
The strategy indicated that, over the past year, Washington had modernized its long-standing alliances, strengthened emerging partnerships, and established innovative links between them to meet pressing challenges from competition with China, to climate change, to confronting the Corona epidemic and threats from North Korea.
The strategy identifies the five main goals that the United States intends to achieve in coordination with allies and regional institutions:
Supporting freedom of navigation and trade in the Indo-Pacific region.
Supporting coordination between countries in the region and abroad.
Drive regional prosperity.
Strengthening security in the Indo-Pacific region.
Building regional resilience to transnational threats.
Dominance of security concerns
For 75 years, the United States has maintained a strong and consistent defense presence in support of regional peace and security in the Pacific and Pacific regions.
The strategy indicated Washington's work to expand and modernize this role, as well as strengthening its capabilities to defend its interests and those of our allies.
The American power there will be enhanced through several points, including:
Strengthening integrated deterrence, and strengthening cooperation with allies and partners to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.
Innovate to operate in rapidly evolving threat environments, including space and cyber as well as critical and emerging technology fields.
Strengthen expanded deterrence, coordinate with Washington's allies in Korea and Japan, and seek the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Continue to abide by the Aukus security treaty between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Expand the US naval presence, cooperate against other transnational threats, and work with Congress to fund the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and the Maritime Security Initiative.
Experts questioned America's willingness to join the free trade area with the countries of the oceans (Getty Images)
The trade gap with the strategy
Among the most obvious shortcomings in the Biden administration's strategy is the relative absence of a coherent US economic strategy in the Indo-Pacific region.
Washington promises to launch an economic framework between the two surrounding countries, later this year, that will include "doubling its economic relations with the region", but details are still limited at the moment.
The strategy focused on the commercial aspect;
She noted that "1.5 billion people in the Indo-Pacific region will join the global middle class in this decade. We will also drive prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region."
Some experts considered the most negative aspect is that the strategy does not give much hope that the United States will once again enter the Comprehensive and Progressive Trade Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and so far the economic component of the Ocean Strategy remains ambiguous.
An expert on US-China relations - at the Council on Foreign Relations - Josh Kurlantzick doubted that "the strategy contains indications that the United States is ready to join the free trade area with the countries of the two oceans, and hence Washington does not have strong economic cards to play in its confrontation with China."
The goal is to contain the rise of China
In a press briefing, a senior US official emphasized that "Washington does not have the luxury of focusing only on one region or one problem at a time."
The Ukraine crisis, and Europe's continued reliance on the United States as a security guarantor, have derailed the Biden administration's efforts to focus more of its attention and resources on the Indo-Pacific region in recent months.
The United States is entering a new era of foreign policy in which "the United States in the Indo-Pacific will demand more than it has been asked since World War II," as the strategy affirms.
On the other hand, the strategy attempts to draw a more positive vision to involve the countries of the region in facing common challenges, on top of which is confronting the threat of China's rise to the existing international order.
Rousseau considered that "China, along with North Korea and Russia, will view the principles embodied in the strategy as a challenge to their interests, because those countries seek to destabilize the region. China, in particular, appears to be primed for regional hegemony at the expense of many of its neighbors. Peace seekers.
An expert on US-China relations, Kurlanczyk, agrees with the talk that the Biden administration is moving toward adopting tough policies toward China.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Kurlantzek indicated that the strategy "does not consider China an enemy, it does not say that. It certainly hints that China is a major competitor."