The Trump administration has declassified a report outlining its Indo-Pacific strategy, which includes “accelerating India’s rise,” blocking China from establishing “illiberal spheres of influence” and maintaining US strategic primacy. “in the region, according to a copy consulted by Axios.
Why it’s important: The strategy outlined in the ten-page report, written in early 2018, has guided the U.S. focus on China, India, North Korea and other nations in the Indo-Pacific region in recent years. three years. Its launch highlights the geopolitical and security challenges that will soon be inherited by the Biden administration.
China is the main worrying state player mentioned in the document, followed by North Korea. The strategy focuses on combating China’s growing influence abroad by seeking strategic alignment with allies and partners, maintaining a “liberal economic order” in the region, and working to “inoculate” the U.S. and its partners against China’s intelligence activities.
- The strategy also describes a major expansion of military, intelligence and diplomatic support in India as the main regional counterweight in China, an approach that is likely to raise eyebrows in Beijing and Islamabad.
What they say: “The declassification of the Framework today demonstrates, in a transparent manner, America’s strategic commitments to the Indo-Pacific and our allies and partners in the region,” National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien wrote in a note dated January 5, 2021 and included with the strategy paper.
Breaking it down: The Trump administration has closely met some of its stated goals for China over the past three years, including:
- Build an “international consensus that China’s unfair industrial policies and trade practices harm the world trade system”
- Expand U.S. counterintelligence and law enforcement to counter China’s intelligence activities in the United States and expand intelligence sharing with allies to help them do the same .
- Develop military and asymmetric warfare strategies to aid Taiwan in its long and tense relationship with China.
- Strengthening national security reviews of Chinese investments in sensitive US sectors
- Work with allies and partners to try to “prevent the acquisition of military and strategic capabilities by the Chinese.”
Yes, but: Some targets faced headwinds.
- The strategy repeatedly calls for greater U.S. engagement with countries in the region, in particular the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In some cases, the United States withdrew from the region, even through Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the withdrawal of ASEAN summits.
- The goal of showing the benefits of American democratic values as a counterweight to China in the region also suffered a major blow with the recent armed insurgency at the U.S. Capitol. These events led to the resignation of one of the main authors of the strategy, former National Security MP Matt Pottinger.
Note: India is an important cornerstone of the Indo-Pacific strategy that is aptly named.
- The document states that improved U.S. assistance and intelligence exchange should help India in key areas of conflict with China, including border disputes and water rights in China. the Himalayas. In 2020, India and China had their deadliest military skirmish along the border since 1967.
- But the US-India relationship is complex. During the Cold War, India refused to position itself directly in the Western camp, rather than opting for the leadership of the non-aligned movement. Meanwhile, the United States often leaned toward Pakistan, India’s historic arch-rival in South Asia.
Background: The Trump administration inaugurated a new official framework for considering China and India as part of the same strategic region, the “Indo-Pacific,” beginning with its national security strategy in 2017.
- The U.S. Pacific Command was renamed the Indo-Pacific Command in 2018, to an extent widely seen as a response to China’s rise.
Between lines: Australia’s experience with China greatly influenced the drafting of the 2018 Indo-Peace Strategy.
- “In many ways they were ahead of the curve in understanding influence operations and interference in national systems,” a senior U.S. official told me. “They were pioneers and we have to give a lot of credit to Australia.”
- The official praised former Australian senior intelligence adviser John Garnaut and said a 2017 report on the Chinese-influenced operations of scholar Anne-Marie Brady, based in New Zealand, had also influenced American strategy.
In depth: The State Department publishes a plan to fight China.