Opinion | Ukraine war has undermined US aims in the Indo-Pacific as small countries seek to avoid the same fate
- The US’ militarist and anti-China approach to security in the Indo-Pacific has never found much favour with smaller countries in the region
- The crisis in Ukraine, however, has heightened fears of being caught in the crossfire of a conflict between the US and China
But the US has struggled to elicit cooperation from Asian countries, and the war in Ukraine has now further undermined its diplomatic efforts.
From the outset, Washington’s emphasis on a militaristic approach has had little appeal. Indeed, the US military build-up in the region and its thinly-veiled threats to use force against China in the South China Sea worry Asean members who risk being caught in the crossfire of a US-China conflict.
Other obstacles to a militaristic approach include India’s non-alignment and Japan’s constitutional restraints on the use of its military. Moreover, many Southeast Asian states are reluctant to offend China.
The Indo-Pacific Strategy states its objective “is not to change China but to shape the strategic environment in which it operates, building a balance of influence in the world that is maximally favourable to the United States, our allies and partners, and the interests and values we share”.