The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsHow will Biden’s foreign policy in Indo-Pacific shape up?
Biden’s preference for multilateralism, however, might mean that ASEAN has Biden’s ears.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
T
he United States has officially entered the post-Trump era with the swearing-in of President Joe Biden. While it is easy for Biden to undo some of Trump’s controversial populist domestic policies, there are issues that might be difficult to reverse, and most of them lie in the foreign policy realm. This includes American foreign policy in our neck of the woods.
Trump inherited the concept of Indo-Pacific from his predecessors, and took it up a notch by adopting the concept of Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) in 2019. FOIP was considered widely as a policy to contain the belligerent rise of China, seen by many as to have increased rapidly during the past decade, especially in the waters of the South China Sea.
FOIP received wholehearted support from America’s allies in the region, including Japan, India, and Australia, which along with the US, formed what is known as the Quad countries. FOIP also received support from the EU, South Korea, and while not openly, many Southeast Asian countries also applauded FOIP for its tenacity in standing up to the aggressive China. In short, US Indo-Pacific policy might be one of the few Trump policies that received wide support.
Members of the Trump administration probably realized this. In his final public appearance, then- vice president Mike Pence, speaking in front of US Navy sailors in a military facility on Jan. 16, urged the Biden administration to keep “eternal vigilance” in standing up to China. This followed the declassification of a document detailing the thinking and strategy of US Foreign Policy on the Indo-Pacific region early last week.
The document entitled “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” mentions the need for America to strengthen its military presence in the region through alliances with the Quad countries and South Korea. It also lists China and North Korea as threats to the region’s stability and vital American interests.
The document views Southeast Asia and ASEAN in a different light. Instead of treating ASEAN as a united entity, the document tends to treat Southeast Asian countries in different categories. Thailand and the Philippines are classified as treaty alliance countries; Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam are identified as countries with which relationships should be deepened; Myanmar is singled out as a country in need of democratic transition support; and there was no mention of the rest of Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia and Laos, which are known to have close relationships with China.
Ironically, the document emphasizes the need for ASEAN countries “to speak with one voice” as one of the US foreign policy’s key objectives in Southeast Asia.
