OpinionUS can’t rely on military prowess to counter China in Asia, despite partnership with Japan, South Korea

Recognising that traditional, highly centralised military alliances like Nato might not be the best fit today, the US has turned to minilateral security arrangements

However, in countering China, Washington’s ‘integrated deterrence’ strategy has three weaknesses

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From the left, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrive for a joint news conference following three-way talks at Camp David, Maryland, on August 18. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

Published: 1:00am, 29 Aug 2023

“Today, we declare openly that we are united in a common purpose to strengthen our shared region,” said US President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a joint statement at their Camp David meeting this month. “Ours is a partnership built not just for our people but for the entire Indo-Pacific.”

Accordingly, the three nations launched initiatives across areas ranging from enhanced intelligence sharing and joint military drills to the development of cutting-edge technologies and economic development programmes.

Biden praised the South Korean and Japanese leadership for their “political courage”, apparently a reference to their diplomatic feud over historical issues. By zeroing in on real and perceived threats from China and North Korea, however, the three nations also made it clear that their partnership is a product of shared anxieties.

At the heart of the burgeoning trilateral alliance is Washington’s “integrated deterrence” strategy, which aims to corral a network of regional allies and strategic partners to preserve a US-led order in the Indo-Pacific. But Washington still lacks a concrete and constructive strategy, namely a new trade and investment initiative in Asia. Moreover, its unilateral economic sanctions have largely backfired, only reinforcing China’s influence over a host of US allies across the region and beyond.

In the past decade, the American policy elite has begun to appreciate the enormity of China’s rise. Although the US is widely seen as the world’s leading military power, with the largest economy in nominal terms, the Asian powerhouse is just too influential to be “contained”.

Unlike the Soviet Union, China is an integral component of the global economy and has enough wealth and people to sustain formidable and sophisticated armed forces. China is rightfully seen as a “near peer” of the US and, thus, the emerging US-China competition can be characterised as a real cold war.