Beijing is unlikely to directly oppose Washington’s initiative to counter China’s growing regional influence with its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) so long as it does not target a third party and contributes to economic growth. And since IPEF remains long on vision and short on detail, it can afford to wait and see. But Beijing is leaving no one in any doubt that it views the development involving the United States and 12 regional nations with great suspicion. Even before President Joe Biden unveiled the US strategy to strengthen its regional engagement, Beijing condemned it as a tool to contain China that was doomed to fail, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused the US of creating division in the region. IPEF revolves around four pillars – supply-chain resilience, infrastructure and clean energy, tax and anti-corruption, and trade – aimed at boosting US cooperation with Japan, Australia and India as part of the informal regional security alliance known as the Quad. Wang has questioned if IPEF is forcing countries to take sides between Washington and Beijing by disrupting supply chains. “Is the US trying to accelerate recovery of the world economy, or is it creating economic decoupling, a technological blockade?” he asked. It is only to be expected that many countries would want to develop greater economic ties with the US, but whether at the expense of China’s economic plans is questionable. China, after all, is often their leading trade partner. But Southeast Asian countries have made it clear they would like to see more US commitment to trade, expressing frustration over former president Donald Trump’s exit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in 2017. However, at this stage, the new economic framework is light on detail. But as experienced trade negotiators know it can take years to settle the final form of functional trade and economic blocs, and the result often does not reflect the original vision. China goes on Asia-Pacific trade offensive in wake of US’ IPEF push In this regard, two pillars of the framework, supply-chain resilience and trade are common interests. Clean energy and decarbonisation are covered in other forums. But the framework will still test some members, for example when it comes to trade protectionism. Dependency on China runs so deep in some of these economies it is not easy to unwind it or help them diversify. Moreover, of cross-border neighbours Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan and Vietnam only the latter has joined the framework. Wang reconfirmed China’s commitment to trade and economic cooperation, quality infrastructure development under the Belt and Road Initiative, regional interconnectivity and supply-chain stability. That said, Biden can count the IPEF exercise a diplomatic success. But a lot of obstacles remain to be overcome.