US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his latest and probably last trip in office to Asia – visiting in succession India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia and, added at the last minute, Vietnam. The face of US foreign policy was on a mission to persuade these countries to join an anti-China coalition under the cover of the US concept of a “free and open Indo-Pacific”. At every stop, he criticised China’s actions and, in particular, the Chinese Communist Party. To Pompeo and apparently the US, “securing our freedoms from the Chinese Communist Party is the mission of our time”. But what he heard in return were refusals to jump on the bandwagon. The US – and China’s actions in Ladakh and the Indian Ocean – may be nudging India out of its non-aligned status. The US-India Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement signed during Pompeo’s visit will facilitate closer military cooperation. It is not clear if this means India will open its military facilities to US assets, but New Delhi has allowed the US to refuel and obtain logistics support for an armed P-8 Poseidon at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. This may have been a one-off or the beginning of a pattern. Given the resurgence of the Quad – a clearly anti-China grouping – it may well be the latter. If so, China is likely to consider that India is, for practical military purposes, no longer “non-aligned”. In Sri Lanka, when Pompeo raised China’s “debt-trap diplomacy” as a warning against getting too close to China, its president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, denied Sri Lanka was caught in a debt trap. He also stressed that Sri Lanka is non-aligned and will stay that way, tweeting later: “Sri Lanka will always maintain a neutral standing foreign policy and will not get entangled in struggles between power blocs.” #SriLanka will always maintain a neutral stand in foreign policy and will not get entangled in struggles between power blocs. @SecPompeo #USwithSL https://t.co/Y7HkOLj1Xq — Gotabaya Rajapaksa (@GotabayaR) October 28, 2020 Indonesia must have been a big disappointment as well. Eyeing Indonesia’s disputes with China in the South China Sea, Pompeo must have thought he could convince the de facto leader of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to join US efforts to contain China. Before his meetings with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and President Joko Widodo, Pompeo said his aim was to find ways to cooperate to “preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific”, and discuss “how free nations can work together to thwart threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party”. This may have been a veiled reference to Indonesia’s bitter experience more than half a century ago with its own communist party, supported at the time by many ethnic Chinese. But most realise that China is no longer trying to spread its communist ideology – unlike the US zeal to proselytise its version of democratic capitalism. How Pompeo’s brusque diplomacy only further isolates the US Seizing on Indonesia’s resistance to incursions in its exclusive economic zone by Chinese fishing boats and the coastguard, Pompeo praised the example Indonesia has set with its “decisive action to safeguard its maritime sovereignty around the Natuna Islands”. But Indonesian leaders were having none of it. Instead, Jokowi told Pompeo that he wanted the US to understand the interests of developing countries, Muslim countries and Southeast Asian countries. For her part, Retno reiterated Indonesia’s “free and independent” foreign policy and the “need to pursue inclusive cooperation amidst this challenging time”. Retno pointedly added that Indonesia’s relations with the US could not be “taken for granted” and that Indonesia expected “mutual understanding”. Pompeo’s last-minute stop in Vietnam appeared to be an attempt to salvage the mission. Vietnam, after all, has been the most critical of China’s actions in the South China Sea. But the Southeast Asian nation has a long-standing policy of not aligning with another country against a third. Moreover, it knows that Pompeo’s anti-communist and human rights rhetoric against China may eventually be applied to it as well. Already, the US has angered some of its leadership with investigations into the country’s alleged involvement in currency manipulation and the illegal timber trade. Vietnam will use tit-for-tat tactics to defend its perceived maritime rights against China , but it is rightfully wary of pushing Beijing too far – and assisting the US in its military containment policy would do that. China will need more than charm to win over Asean, observers say The mission and message of Pompeo’s Asian tour were in wrong tone and tenor, given to the wrong audience at the wrong time. For many Southeast Asians, Pompeo’s style is arrogant. His message was tone deaf to a region suffering from a pandemic, with its economy in free fall. At such a time, it needs China, its principal economic partner. These states – even India – do not want to be forced to choose between the current hegemon and their neighbour, the rising power. The region has many reservations about the US strategy for a “free and open Indo-Pacific”. Most nations in the region do not use democratic values as a litmus test in their foreign relations. Several also question – as China does – key aspects of the existing US-led international order, including its interpretation of freedom of navigation for military vessels and intelligence probes. Pompeo’s mission seemed based on the assumption that most Southeast Asian nations share the US view that China is a dangerous and hostile power. If so, Pompeo discovered that this assumption is false and that resistance to join the US in its struggle against China is deep and widespread. His failed diplomatic foray reveals US naivete and misunderstanding of the region and its interests. The US needs to re-evaluate its approach if it wants to have any hope of gaining support for its anti-China coalition. Mark J. Valencia is an adjunct senior scholar at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, Haikou, China